SAFe Team in Insurance
Background
A major Swedish insurance and banking company (6,500+ employees) needed to launch a new team in their SAFe framework. The team was a mix of insurance-heavy Business Analysts and technically skilled developers working in Lumera (SaaS), with Azure DevOps as the Kanban tool. None had prior Agile or SAFe experience.
The Challenge
Brand-new team members, new to the company and to Agile/SAFe.
Deep specialist silos made knowledge transfer difficult.
Traditional habits (long analysis cycles) clashed with Agile practices.
Our Approach
Kept it simple: We cut ceremonies and work items to match the team’s reality, focusing only on what added value.
Empowered ownership: Decision-making authority was documented so the team could move without waiting for approvals.
Opened feedback loops: Key knowledge leaders were onboarded into Azure DevOps, giving faster answers and clearer documentation.
Built a learning culture: Retrospectives with “Micro-Macro missions” encouraged sharing, experimenting, and cross-learning.
The Result
Delivered on time: The team hit commitments despite no prior Agile experience.
Tools as enablers: Azure DevOps became a real support system, not just a reporting tool.
Stronger ownership: The team built direct feedback loops with business experts and reduced external blockers.
What We Learned
Protect from dogma: Rigid “Agile law” from outside slowed them down — shielding worked.
Less is more: Only track what is buildable, testable, and iterative.
Adapt to reality: Success came from tailoring Agile, not following it by the book.
Framework Resources Used
Team Purpose Template – Aligned everyone on the problem they were solving.
Roles & Responsibility Builder – Clarified ownership and created a strong 6–9 person core.
Decision Authority Template – Appointed a dedicated owner and made decision rights explicit.
Sprint vs. Kanban Guide – Helped the team choose the right workflow for their context.
P&T Value Checklist – Ensured only practices and tools that added real delivery value were kept.
