Stage 4: Ownership
The Ownership stage transfers ownership to the team.
Stage 4: OWNERSHIP— End-of-Stage Checklist
By the end of this stage, the team should:
Adopt the Micro–Macro Missions Model to spread ownership across individuals.
Use a Mission Flow process to coordinate and track team missions.
Map and take ownership of the entire Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).
Run a Power Swap Workshop to transfer decision-making authority from leadership to the team.
Gradually own their processes and templates, reducing dependency on roles like Scrum Master.
Self-run and adapt ceremonies — no single role leads them anymore.
Update roles and responsibilities to reflect distributed ownership.
Revisit and clarify decision authority, now fully empowering the team.
Establish a new escalation path for rare cases needing external support.
Team
The team waits for work to be given to them → The team owns outcomes, not work items.
Adopt the Micro–Macro Missions Model to distribute outcome ownership across individuals.
Delivery
Releases are unstructured or still managed by leadership. → The team owns the full development lifecycle.
Map and define ownership of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).
Leadership
The team is dependent on leadership to make decisions. → Transfer decision authority from leadership to the team.
Run a Power Swap Workshop to shift decisions from leaders to the team.
Processes & Templates (P&T)
Leadership or Scrum Masters own all processes and templates. → The team owns and manages all P&T.
Use the Ownership Selector to determine readiness for team-managed processes.
Start with Scrum Master-owned P&T, then gradually decentralize.
SAFe-Specific Guidance
In SAFe, Product Owner and Scrum Master roles are tied to ceremonies and ownership.
Over-reliance on these roles can limit the team’s growth.
Rotate team members through ceremonies to build broader ownership.
Bottom Line
The team depends on leadership to own the system development life cycle work (SDLC). → Shifting ownership of work, SDLC & P&T to the team to enable true ownership.
The team now owns outcomes, SDLC, processes, templates, and ceremonies.