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The roles and responsibilities of a Release Train Engineer in a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) are varied and multi-faceted. In this framework, one is looking at an ever-changing horizon in product development, management, and value delivery.

In short, the role of a Release Train Engineer (RTE) is that of a servant leader and coach for the Agile Release Train (ART). The responsibilities involve coordinating, providing assistance, and guiding teams as per the principles of Lean/Agile. In this blog, we will explore the Release Train Engineer roles and responsibilities in detail but first, let’s recap some critical concepts in brief.

What is SAFe?

While developing a product, many different approaches can be employed. Agile works on a short-term basis for gauging development. Agile means that one is constantly reshaping the product as per changing demands of customers and the environment. Teams of usually five to 15 people work autonomously and in close contact with each other, with complete knowledge of each other’s resource limitations and potentials. A team is usually headed by a Scrum Master who guides the team.

When applied to more complex products and larger organizations, the SAFe approach adds another layer. It enables teams across an organization to work in tandem towards greater collaboration and optimization of targets. This layer entails managing these teams in an Agile Release Train. Specific SAFe RTE roles and responsibilities should also be kept in mind while dealing with the situations.

What is an ART?

An Agile Release Train is a virtual organization comprising many teams consisting of a minimum of five to more than ten teams that work together. ARTs are cross-functional and possess the capabilities to deliver value across all product areas continuously. At the ART level, work is packaged as ‘Features,’ i.e., encapsulating an experiment whose hypothesis outlines some benefit to the end-user/customer. These features are timeboxed at a determined Program Increment (PI) cadence (usually eight to twelve weeks). This approach moves away from different siloing departments. ART involves working synergistically as per functions performed by the teams.

Having discussed the key concepts, let’s move on to the Release Train Engineer responsibilities

Release Train Engineer Role and Responsibilities

• The role of a Release Train Engineer can be thought of as a super Scrum Master who coordinates and drives all other Scrum Masters in the ART towards the goals set collectively as per Lean-Agile.
• Work with the teams in the ART to prioritize features to be considered in a given PI planning cycle. SAFe RTE responsibilities include organizing and driving SAFe events like meeting between teams to collectively plan the short-term development cycles, ART sync at every stage, Demos, workshops, and Backlog Refinement.
• Collaborate with the Product Manager to ensure that the program has a healthy Product Backlog.
• Assist the ART in communication and coordination with stakeholders and customers during feature-definition of the product and its delivery.
• Enable effective communication among teams and coordinate planning quarterly (real-time).
• Manage changes to the ART’s PI plan and survey the impacts of those changes on the value chain.
• Drive cross-team collaboration in the ART and resolve departmental impediments and other planning, collaboration, and coordination issues.
• Foster open communication between the teams and stakeholders to increase transparency and awareness towards progress and roadblocks.
• Understand and be able to visualize and manage upstream/downstream dependencies.
• Drive value-delivery and continuously improve the product by effectively utilizing data such as feedback and metrics like quality, delivery rate, etc., to identify opportunities.
• Entail working with stakeholders and teams to improve their working style and the team continuously.
• Improve the flow of value across value streams by enhancing and evaluating DevOps and Release on Demand techniques in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline. They also have to steer the product towards a customer-centric approach.
• Ensure that the program's overall cost, timelines, and performance fall between pre-set parameters. They must also check any deviations to resolve them immediately.
• Conduct periodical reviews to constantly allocate and reallocate resources to prevent many people from working on similar issues. This would involve a case-by-case analysis of the different problems as per Agile principles.
• Analyze the budgetary estimates of the program given by participating organizations to provide direction to the overall development of the program budgets and according to cost profiles.
• Manage program-level coordination and effectively undertake tasks like:

                    Creation of timelines, setting milestones, and cadence of PI’s and releases

                    Oversight into the development of reports and analysis of document program activity.

• Provide leadership to project teams and act as a consultant/coach to the management to resolve contingencies and complex issues. They must also have a close eye on any anticipated risks and impediments which may halt progress.
• Play the role of a subject-matter expert and participate with management and teams in developing and improving SAFe operating policies and procedures.
• Advocate the adoption of Agile and SAFe best practices and processes. This is one of the most critical Release Train Engineer responsibilities.
• Constantly refine and stay connected with emerging themes and discussions in the larger community that have adopted the Agile approach.
• Support deploying SAFe practices tailored to the organization's needs. This would involve the standardization of procedures and documentation.
• Create an environment that gives autonomy to the teams while they work on their projects and build trust among them for better collaboration.
• Not control and micro-manage team goals and their processes. While they may enforce adherence to SAFe principles, there must be effective decentralization in terms of workload.

New RTEs must develop organizational skills to perform their responsibilities and adopt a Lean-Agile mindset. To become servant leaders, they have to inculcate values like listening and supporting the team while identifying problems and making decisions. RTEs must develop empathy among groups. They must encourage the personal development of the members of the units and also create a ‘systems thinking to get a bird’s eye view of the development of the product and bring an open mind to the table. RTEs would also have to let go of preconceived notions, invite team members' disagreements, and drive discussions towards a solutions-oriented approach. This is one of the critical SAFe RTE roles and responsibilities.

Summary

A Release Train Engineer responsibilities include playing an essential role in any ART and acts as the hub to all the teams. They must constantly update their repertoire of information and best practices regarding Agile values and principles to streamline product development. Further, they must build trust and keep the channels of communication open to evaluate goals in light of progress made. The RTE must play the role of a coach who guides the team towards optimizing and prioritizing tasks. Finally, the RTE gives vision and support to the groups and foster an environment that focuses on Lean-Agile principles.

References:

1. https://www.scaledagileframework.com/release-train-engineer/
2. https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/release-train-engineer-RTE
3. https://medium.com/agileinsider/how-to-become-a-certified-release-train-engineer-safe-8bf404a37551