The second week of April was buzzing with industry events— as a strategic sponsor the Valiantys team took Anaheim by storm at Atlassian’s TEAM’25, and Aslam Cader had the absolute pleasure of representing Valiantys at the SAFe Summit in sunny Sorrento, Italy. This blog captures Aslam’s experience, reflections, and key takeaways from a truly vibrant gathering.
Scaled Agile certainly knows how to pick a memorable location! Nestled in the heart of Italy’s lemon capital, Sorrento was bursting with zest (quite literally). The lemons were everywhere, radiating positive vibes and providing a bright, “ting-a-ling” backdrop to the powerful community of Agile and SAFe practitioners, customers, and partners who came together to kick off 2025 with enthusiasm and purpose.
Steve Matthesen, Chief Executive Officer of Scaled Agile, warmly welcomed 71 partners and 82 enterprises to Sorrento. In his keynote, he emphasized that the state of Agile is strong and more important than ever, underscoring that today’s critical priorities all rely on Agile, whether it’s AI adoption, embracing a product-oriented operating model, or addressing emerging business challenges, Agile remain foundational. Many companies still have room for improvement in fully adopting Agile, while modern leaders recognise that it is key to building a people-centered, innovative culture. Agile is now mainstream, and SAFe stands out as a proven operating model to scale and accelerate digital transformation effectively.
Tamara Nation, VP eCommerce & Community Engagement announced a major milestone: Scaled Agile now boasts over 2 million SAFe-trained professionals and more than 20,000 global organizations practicing SAFe. This significant achievement clearly shows SAFe has successfully crossed the chasm and has transitioned from “Go SAFe” to “Mature SAFe.”
Andrew Sales, Chief Methodologist and SAFe Fellow noted a key shift—prioritizing outcomes over processes. A major highlight was the introduction of the “5 SAFe Disciplines.” While not radically altering SAFe’s famous BigPicture, these disciplines offer fresh lenses and engaging narratives that help organizations zero in on what matters most. The five key disciplines—Lean Portfolio Management, Large Solution Integration & Delivery, Product Development Flow, Team & Technical Agility, and Leadership & Culture—each tell a compelling, integrated story to enable end-to-end transformation. Each discipline is tied to multiple SAFe competencies, and Andrew humorously reminded us that SAFe isn’t about counting competencies but about mapping those competencies directly to solving real business problems. In fact, the ability to solve real business problems IS the best measure of SAFe Success.
Another standout moment was the first-ever release of the State of SAFe report 2025. It provided transparent insights into SAFe adoption amplifying the voices of 1200 global professionals, highlighting successes and struggles. Only 33% of respondents identified that their organization had achieved mastery in Lean Portfolio Management compared to 73% in Team and Technical Agility. Notably, it underscored the critical need for strong Lean Agile Leadership and Lean Portfolio Management to bridge strategy with execution — echoing Gartner’s Strategic Portfolio Management insights. Further to this, respondents to the survey question, “How can SAFe be improved?“ had reinforced the need for simplification, flexibility, a focus on practicality and outcomes over process. The report also highlighted PI Planning as the most beneficial practice, acknowledging the statement by Dean Leffingwell, “there is no magic in SAFe, except perhaps for PI Planning.”
Reality check, organizations thrive or falter depending on how effectively they tailor and adopt SAFe. Teams already familiar with Scrum or Kanban usually find SAFe naturally intuitive—because, contrary to some myths, SAFe doesn’t replace these frameworks; it enhances and complements them seamlessly. Organizations are blending different approaches, including SAFe, product operating models, and flow-based ways of working. 15% of organizations are working in a hybrid approach where they combine Agile and more traditional project-based methods. But here’s a friendly pro tip: The success of your SAFe journey significantly depends on how safely you configure SAFe and who you choose to partner. Experience and expertise truly smooth the path and amplify your transformation outcomes.
At Valiantys, agility isn’t just a buzzword—it’s in our DNA. We’ve partnered with organizations across industries to bring frameworks like SAFe to life, not just in theory, but in practice. Our strength lies in connecting methodology with the right tools—like Atlassian Jira—and helping teams configure and scale their agile practices to match their unique context. Whether it’s facilitating seamless PI Planning, implementing Lean Portfolio Management, or integrating frameworks like SAFe through Atlassian, Easy Agile Programs, Agile Hive, Tempo SPM, and Appfire’s BigPicture solution we guide our clients from idea to execution with clarity and confidence.
Speaking of expert guidance, I’m particularly impressed with the Agile Hive solution that enhances SAFe capabilities within the Jira platform. If your organization has already invested in Atlassian Jira and you’re ready to adopt or scale SAFe, Agile Hive is a fantastic Atlassian marketplace app to extend.
Agile Hive provides a platform to safely configures SAFe within Jira, maintaining best practice Jira config while enabling you to scale SAFe fast. At Valiantys, we partner with our customers on their Agile transformations. The Valiantys approach is our Quarterly Planning Accelerator and SAFe Jumpstart solutions to help organizations kick-start this transformation by aligning the right frameworks, tools, and cultural change. From configuring SAFe within Jira using Agile Hive to coaching teams through Lean Portfolio Management or optimizing PI Planning sessions, we bring both the technical know-how and the human-centered approach that make agility work—at scale. Here’s a quick roadmap overview of how it all comes together,
There was exciting news for active SAFe practitioners too. Scaled Agile introduced SAFe+, opening up more learning opportunities beyond the SAFe Enterprise Subscription. Additionally, they unveiled structured learning packages like the ART Launch Package—promising better value and structured support for your SAFe journey. For those just starting their SAFe journey, Scaled Agile has published a free SAFe Explained eBook. This resource clearly outlines the core benefits and business value of Lean and Agile principles, making it the perfect starting point for anyone curious about SAFe without diving immediately into the depths of SAFe Studio’s extensive offerings.
Daniel Quick, Chief Customer Learning Officer laid out Scaled Agile’s four strategic priorities for 2025:
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Enhancing core offerings, especially integrating AI and adopting Product Operating Models. Scaled Agile published a bunch of new resources including the executive guide on The Product Operating Model at Scale.
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Tailored approach, SAFe for Hardware, addressing unique challenges in automotive and semiconductor industries. There will be a certification announced soon to enable the Hardware SAFe practitioners.
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Tailored approach, SAFe for Government, addressing unique challenges in government and public sector complexities. There will be a certification course released this moth for Leading SAFe Government professionals.
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Continuous Learning & Engagement, empowering SAFe professionals with modern, AI-supported learning.
Here is a sneak preview into the SAFe product roadmap 2025,
Next, the outstanding customer stories shared by industry leaders such as Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Austrian Railways, Amadeus an many others made SAFe Summit even more special. I particularly loved seeing the Renault journey to Agile and how SAFe allowed to scale and accelerate their learnings. Pierre Houlès, Renault Group Deputy CIO & GM of Renault Digital shared the importance of leadership and how SAFe allowed Renault to stabilize ways of working and the adoption of Lean Portfolio Management before they accelerated.
Amadeus shared their journey bridging projects and products, managing complexity for maximum value. They recognized the coexistence of projects, products, and SAFe value worlds and then skilfully balanced the demands of the business. SAFe helped to standardize and educate people in this journey ensuring everyone is on the same page fostering collaboration and maintaining sharp focus on customer satisfaction. At Valiantys, we see this challenge time and again—alignment isn’t just a goal, it’s a continuous pursuit. That’s why we focus on enabling change that sticks.
Mercedes-Benz project to product transformation, a people-centered approach validated the importance of people and change-leadership matter most in transformation. The product mindset enabled them to grow beyond Agile ways of working. At Valiantys, we believe that true transformation starts with purpose—and that begins by understanding how value flows. That’s why Value Stream Mapping is a cornerstone of our approach. Through our Valiantys Value Series workshops, we help organizations visualize and optimize their end-to-end value streams, enabling smarter decisions, faster delivery, and stronger alignment between teams and strategic goals. Just like Mercedes-Benz, our clients discover that when you put people at the center and design around value, agility becomes more than a framework—it becomes a competitive advantage.
Keynote speaker James Taylor reminded us with humor and insight that “supercreativity”—humans partnering effectively with machines— elevates collaboration and innovation exponentially. Only 39% of global respondents describe themselves as being creative. He shared the importance of asking the right question over finding the right answer, and this is the most common source of mistakes in management decisions according to Peter Drucker. And to ask the right questions, you need to be curious.
Let me wrap up by sincerely thanking everyone I met at the SAFe Summit, it wouldn’t have been the amazing experience it was without the people. Networking was electric, buzzing with passion, innovation, and shared purpose. Special thanks goes to the Agile Hive team for being amazing and loved all our customer conversations. It was also a great pleasure to briefly interview Andrew Sales and looking forward to sharing more insights and learnings with our continued collaboration with Agile Hive.
Let me leave you with this takeaway, “True leadership is about solving real business problems, focusing on outcomes over mere outputs, and guiding teams with purpose – Aslam Cader.“ The conversation doesn’t have to end here! If my SAFe Summit experience resonates with you or sparks your interest to learn more, then reach out. Let’s continue the journey of transformation together and let us help you accelerate!
Before signing off, I have to mention one final highlight—an unforgettable visit to Pompeii. After the 3 days of the Summit, I had the chance to explore the ancient ruins alongside an amazing group from Mercedes-Benz, Deloitte, and Scaled Agile. Walking through the preserved city was like stepping into a time capsule—an inspiring reminder of how much human ingenuity, adaptability, and resilience can shape the future. The conversations continued among the ruins, proving that learning, connection, and transformation don’t end with the conference—they evolve with every experience we share together.
Grazie, Sorrento. Until next time!
