Last October, we released the first SAFe® for Government course with an initial MVP design focused on the U.S. federal market. Even before the course launched, we began getting feedback from our SPCs working with governments outside the U.S., as well as interest from state governments. While most of the course content works fine in those contexts, some of the information specific to U.S. federal is not as useful there. The big question was how to adapt the course to work in virtually any state or country around the world. A real challenge, indeed!

Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been architecting an update to make the course more accommodating to different localities, without losing the great insights on the U.S. federal context that we gained from everyone who helped us develop the initial course. We’ve architected a solution that’s a first when it comes to Scaled Agile courseware—trainers now can develop a limited amount of state- or country-specific content and deliver it in conjunction with our licensed material. This is just one reason why we’re so excited to announce the release of SAFe® for Government version 4.6.1!

With this update, trainers can choose from two distinct tracks for specific lessons in the courseware kit. Track one is preloaded with the U.S. federal content from the original course, along with some new information in and minor improvements to a couple of lessons. Track two offers more universal language and contextualization options for several lessons, designed to help you provide more relevant content for local, state, and international government audiences.

There are very specific guidelines to follow in order to remain compliant with the courseware license agreement and exam content. Trainers taking advantage of the second track must review the information in the trainer’s guide and in a special CDE video on contextualization—prior to conducting the course. And because the changes made in this update do impact the U.S. federal content, if you’re an SPC or SPCT who has already completed the course enablement, we strongly encourage you to review the new kit thoroughly and watch all the newly recorded CDE videos for each lesson as well as the contextualization video.

We can’t wait to see how this update helps the change agents in our community bring the benefits of SAFe to government organizations around the world! We’re also looking forward to your feedback on the new update, so if you’re a trainer or a learner, please share your thoughts on the new materials.

Be SAFe!

—Steve