Product Management is responsible for defining and supporting the building of desirable, feasible, viable, and sustainable products that meet customer needs over the product-market lifecycle. To do this effectively in a SAFe environment, they must collaborate with various stakeholders to determine the capacity allocation for upcoming Enabler work.
Enabler work refers to the activities that support the development of business features, such as exploration, architecture, infrastructure, and compliance. These are necessary to advance the Solution and build its architectural runway. The capacity allocation for Enabler work is a collaborative effort between Product Management, System Architects/Engineering, and other stakeholders. This ensures that sufficient capacity is allocated for both feature and enabler work, balancing the need to address technical debt, architectural advancements, and other necessary activities that enable future delivery of value.
The SAFe framework suggests a ‘capacity allocation’ approach where a certain percentage of the team’s capacity is allocated to Enabler work. This is not a fixed number but rather a guideline to ensure that teams invest in necessary work that may not directly deliver new customer features but is essential for the long-term health and adaptability of the product. By establishing a capacity allocation for Enabler work, Product Management ensures that there is a balance between delivering new features and maintaining the technical quality and flexibility of the product to adapt to future changes. This approach helps in managing the investment in Enabler work and ensures that it is not overlooked in the pursuit of immediate feature delivery.
