Each week inside SAFe Connect, our spotlight member shares practical insights from their experience applying SAFe in real environments. This week, Nidhi Sharma shares a set of practices that help teams reduce complexity and focus on what truly drives results.
1. Treat SAFe as a system design problem
âTreat SAFe like a system design problem, not a process rollout. Start by making two things explicit: decision rights and flow metrics. When those are clear, PI Planning, ART execution, and portfolio alignment get dramatically easier because teams are not guessing and leadership is not reacting. Complexity goes down when decisions and measures are visible.â
2. Use organizational design thinking to improve flow
âI consistently recommend Team Topologies because it helps people see that many Agile problems are actually organizational design problems such as team boundaries, cognitive load, and interaction patterns. When teams are shaped for fast flow, SAFe practices land better and feel less heavy. I also revisit SAFe guidance on Lean Portfolio Management because that is often where the biggest leverage is for improving outcomes.â
3. Stay grounded with outcome focused rituals
âA simple weekly ritual: What are the three outcomes that matter most this week? What decisions must be made to unlock them? Who owns each decision, and what is the deadline? This keeps the work grounded in outcomes and prevents activity from replacing progress.â
4. Keep learning through practice and adjacent thinking
âI learn by staying close to practice by coaching teams, working with leaders, and reflecting on what created measurable change. I also stay current by reading across adjacent domains like organizational design, product strategy, flow metrics, and governance. Lately, I have been spending time on how AI is changing delivery work and what that means for clarity, controls, and decision making.â
