Purpose

The system architect in SAFe is responsible for defining and communicating the technical architecture, including non-functional requirements (NFRs), design decisions, and the overarching system structure for the ART. Their primary focus is ensuring that the architecture evolves to meet the technical and business needs of the solution.

Key accountabilities

• Collaborates with the Agile Teams, guiding technical design but also empower teams to make local design decisions within a defined architectural framework.

• Balancing Innovation and Stability, maintaining a balance between innovative, forward-looking architectural decisions and the stability required for incremental delivery in an agile environment.
• Participate in PI Planning: during in PI Planning by defining architectural runway and technical dependencies, providing input on technical risks, and ensuring that the teams have a clear understanding of the system constraints and architectural objectives. They help ensure that the teams' work is technically feasible and aligned with long-term goals.
• In backlog refinement sessions, system architects provide insights on the technical aspects of features, identify architectural enablers, and ensure that non-functional requirements are considered in the planning.
• They work closely with product managers to prioritize enablers and balance functional and technical priorities.
• Scrum of Scrums/ART Sync: System architects attend these ceremonies to stay aligned with the progress of different teams and identify any cross-team architectural issues or dependencies. They help resolve technical blockers and keep the architecture aligned across multiple teams.
• System Demos: In system demos, system architects provide technical feedback and validate that the delivered increments align with the architectural vision and meet NFRs. They also gather feedback to adjust the architectural approach if necessary.

Typical profiles

Architect or Senior Architect