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Customising SAFe to Your Context
Align the SAFe framework to your unique context, confidently.
SAFe is a comprehensive operating model for business agility, designed to be customised to the specific needs of your organisation. Done well, customising the framework can unlock significant value — and the Customising SAFe to Your Context Workshop gives you a proven, structured method to do it right.
Customising SAFe means adding new elements to the framework, or modifying the default definitions and implementations of existing ones. It's often necessary because SAFe terminology can conflict with your organisation's language, a standard configuration may not meet every need, or the cost of adopting certain elements may outweigh the benefit.
This workshop walks you through a step-by-step process: understand the need, describe the change, apply SAFe's guardrails, align on the value, then prioritise, communicate and implement the change. You leave with a documented Customization Blueprint — a reasoned, safe and actionable decision for your organisation, whether that's to customise or to confidently decide against it.
The workshop runs for approximately half a day (5 hours), on-site or virtually, in table groups of 6–10.
Facilitated by SAFe Fellows who are also SPCTs.
What can be customised?
SAFe identifies seven aspects of the framework that can be customised to suit your organisation's context — spanning the people, work, and activities that make up how your organisation operates.
Outcomes
- Customise with confidence using a step-by-step process guided by SAFe's guardrails
- A documented Customization Blueprint — a defensible basis for your decision
- Drive stronger buy-in by communicating customisation changes clearly
- A prioritised plan for rolling out changes across your transformation roadmap
Overcome these challenges
- Hesitancy to make necessary changes for fear of diminishing SAFe's benefits
- Struggling to apply SAFe to industry-specific or regulatory requirements
- Difficulty integrating new technologies or external practices
- SAFe terminology not aligning with your organisation's language, creating a barrier to adoption
Who should attend
- LACE leaders
- Divisional agile change leaders
- Representatives from affected functions such as Audit, Finance and HR
- Leaders responsible for communicating the changes or leading implementation
Especially useful for those leading customisation discussions as an ASPC or SPCT.
What you'll explore and achieve
In this collaborative workshop you and your team learn a step-by-step process for evaluating potential SAFe modifications. You'll understand the difference between configuring and customising, and when each is the right call.
You'll then build a Customization Blueprint and think through the key considerations for rolling out your changes — including how to document the path forward. You leave with a reasoned, safe and actionable decision, whether that's to customise or to confidently decide against it.
Frequently asked questions
It's a half-day workshop that gives change leaders a proven, step-by-step method for deciding whether and how to modify SAFe for their organisation. You learn to understand the need, describe the change, test it against SAFe's guardrails, and plan how to prioritise, communicate and roll it out.
Configuring means working within SAFe's built-in options to suit your context. Customising goes further: adding new elements or changing the default definitions and implementations of existing ones. The workshop teaches you to tell the two apart and to explore configuration first, customising only when it's genuinely warranted.
It's especially useful for those leading customisation discussions as an ASPC or SPCT. More broadly: LACE leaders, divisional agile change leaders, representatives from affected functions such as Audit, Finance and HR, and any leader responsible for communicating the changes or leading implementation.
It's the core working template you build during the workshop. It captures the identified need, the proposed change, validation against SAFe's guardrails, and the expected benefit — giving you a documented, defensible basis for your decision.
Yes. It runs on-site or virtually. The virtual setup uses a shared digital workspace and voting for each group, with digital handout materials provided.
Whether you choose to customise or to confidently decide against it, you leave with a reasoned, safe and actionable decision for the organisation — plus a documented Customization Blueprint and a prioritised plan for communicating and rolling out the changes.
Customising SAFe is an ongoing process, so it's best run on a cadence. Use MVP customisations to track the benefits and adapt based on real outcomes rather than treating customisation as a one-off event.