Each week in SAFe Connect, we share one practical tip from a member of the community to help you apply SAFe in more meaningful ways.
This week, William Kammersell shares a lesson that has shaped how I approach complex work: making the work visible so everyone can make better decisions together.
💡 Tip of the Week: Make Complexity Visible
One lesson I've learned is that complexity doesn't become easier by trying to control it—it becomes easier when everyone can see it.
As Dean often says, building complex things is complex. When organizations face that complexity, it's natural to drift toward command-and-control leadership. Unfortunately, that often creates a feature factory where work is delegated instead of collaboratively solved.
Instead, I try to focus on enabling the people closest to the work to make good decisions themselves. Visibility is one of the best ways to make that possible.
A few practices have consistently helped me:
- Visualize dependencies early and often.
- Create organization-wide summaries so teams understand how their work connects to the bigger picture.
- Encourage experimentation instead of optimizing only for speed.
- Make space to learn from other practitioners by attending live SAFe Connect events and local meetups.
One experience that reinforced this mindset was a PI Planning session where we literally ran out of red string while mapping dependencies across teams. It was chaotic—but it also demonstrated the incredible value of making complexity visible. Since then, I've looked for every opportunity to help people see the entire system, not just their piece of it.
Outside of work, I keep learning by taking advantage of Scaled Agile's on-demand learning opportunities and reading at least one professional book each quarter. I also keep my productivity simple with an old-school paper to-do list that I refresh every Friday afternoon. Crossing completed items off the page is still one of the most satisfying ways to end a week.
The best advice I've learned throughout my SAFe journey is this: don't just focus on building faster. Focus on building the right thing, the right way. When people can see the work, collaborate openly, and continuously learn from one another, better outcomes naturally follow.
