In a world characterized by rapid technological progress and constantly changing market dynamics, companies face the major challenge of remaining agile and continuously innovating. Traditional business models and ways of working are often no longer sufficient to remain competitive in today’s fast-paced environment. This is where the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and the Jobs-to-be-Done theory (JtBD) offer valuable approaches to help companies work more effectively and respond more deeply to customer needs.

SAFe is a framework for agile ways of working that aims to scale lean and agile principles to more complex, larger organizations. It provides structures and processes that enable organizations to respond quickly to change, increase efficiency and foster collaboration across traditional departmental boundaries.

JtBD, on the other hand, focuses on a deep understanding of the actual reasons why customers buy certain products or use certain services. This theory assumes that customers do not buy products because of their features or functions, but because they want to use them to do a specific «job» or task in a specific context and have an excellent experience.

The combination of SAFe and JtBD enables companies to not only improve their internal processes and team dynamics, but also to develop products and services that truly meet customer needs. By integrating these two approaches, companies can create a powerful synergy that leads to sustainable growth and success.

One of the key problems many large organizations face is isolated departments or silos that make internal communication and collaboration difficult. SAFe addresses this problem by creating cross-functional teams that work on common goals and regularly synchronize their progress. These teams are organized around value streams that ensure that all efforts contribute directly to value creation.

JtBD complements SAFe by focusing on the customer and their needs. When teams understand what «job» their product or service is supposed to fulfil, they can collaborate better and allocate resources more effectively to accomplish that job.

In the application of SAFe, portfolio management and the prioritization of initiatives that promise the greatest value play a crucial role. This is where JtBD theory helps to identify the true needs of customers and understand what they are really looking for. These insights can then be used to ensure that the projects and products selected are those that offer the greatest added value to customers and do not just address short-term trends or superficial needs.

The practical implementation of SAFe and JtBD in product development can be achieved through the following steps:

1. Identifying customer jobs and converting them into strategic objectives and themes: Teams conduct market research or analyze existing data to deeply understand what specific jobs customers actually want to do when they use products or services in a particular area. These findings form the basis for the development of the company’s strategic goals. These goals are then translated by Lean Portfolio Management into strategic themes that enable the entire organization to be aligned with the true needs and challenges of customers. The value streams are derived from these strategic themes. These are designed to work across silos and effectively integrate resources from the entire company in the long term in order to optimally fulfill the identified customer jobs. This process ensures that product and project portfolio management acts in close collaboration with the business owners to define and realize the customer jobs that deliver the greatest added value.

2. Development of epics and features: Based on the identified jobs, epics and features are developed that are directly aimed at fulfilling these jobs. This ensures that all development efforts are closely linked to customer needs.

3. Implement agile release cycles: Through short development cycles and regular feedback loops, products can be iterated and improved quickly to better address identified customer jobs.

4. Measure and adapt: Continuously measure performance and customer feedback on developed products to ensure they are actually delivering the desired value.

The combination of SAFe and JtBD offers a powerful approach for organizations that want to succeed in a complex and rapidly changing world. By breaking down silos, fostering collaboration and focusing on real customer needs, companies can create innovations that are not just reactive, but proactive and purposeful. In practice, this means developing products and services that customers not only use, but love – because they do exactly the jobs they were hired to do.

What’s next? Contact us and together we will find out how you can successfully embark on the agile and customer-centric journey.

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