• Frank Neff
• 20 Jun, 2025

• agile
• SAFe
• scaling
• leadership
• process
• culture

Is SAFe Just Waterfall Wearing a Hoodie?

SAFe gives leaders a comforting sense of order: roles, layers, roadmaps, and predictable increments. But too often, that “safety” hides something familiar – Waterfall dressed up with agile terminology.

On paper, SAFe promises agility at scale. In practice, it often turns into months-long planning cycles, extra layers of governance, and top-down control with new names. The labels change – “epics” instead of projects, “program increments” instead of deadlines – but the behaviors stay the same.

Which brings us to the real question: Is SAFe actually helping companies become agile, or is it just Waterfall in disguise?

• Frank Neff
• 11 Aug, 2024

• agile
• process
• dor
• dod
• team-practices

The No-Nonsense Definition of Ready & Definition of Done

Most agile teams say they use a Definition of Ready (DoR) and Definition of Done (DoD). In practice? They’re often ignored, overcomplicated, or so vague they don’t help anyone.

Over the years, I’ve refined a lean, practical version of both. It’s sharp enough to be useful across companies and simple enough that people actually use it.

• Frank Neff
• 28 May, 2024

• agile
• scrum
• kanban
• delivery
• leadership
• product

Stop Faking Agile: How to Actually Deliver Faster

Almost every company today claims they’re “agile.” They run standups, hold retros, track velocity. The word shows up in job postings, investor decks, and board meetings.

But let’s be honest: In 99% of cases, “agile” is just a buzzword. It’s a label slapped on the same old waterfall process, dressed up with sticky notes and Jira boards.

I’ve stepped into SaaS companies where work still moved in quarterly chunks, QA was a final-phase bottleneck, and priorities were dictated top-down. Nothing about that was Scrum or Kanban — it was waterfall in an agile costume.

• Frank Neff
• 21 Apr, 2015

• agile
• pragmatism

If pragmatism raises technical debt, call it oversimplification (rant)

The word “pragmatism” or “pragmatic” is, in my personal opinion, the most overrated word in agile development. Many people use this as a buzzword without knowing what it means. I hear people saying “He solved that complex problem in half an hour, he’s so pragmatic!” and think for myself “Yeah, but that ‘solution’ probably causes other devs three times more effort than a sustainable solution would take.”