“The cloud services companies of all sizes …
The cloud is for everyone. The cloud is a democracy.”
– Marc Benioff –

The move to Cloud, now within the Atlassian Jira ecosphere, is well upon us. Organizations of all sizes can now take advantage of the latest, most technologically advanced, secure applications without the costs and demands of maintaining the physical infrastructure of on premise (“on prem”) solutions.

And now we at Agile Hive are proud to announce, after months of development, refinement, and customer testing via our Early Access Program (EAP), our “SAFe® in Jira” solution is now available for Jira Cloud via the Atlassian Marketplace!

The Revolution Will Be Cloud

To begin, let’s revisit a number of the key benefits to Cloud connectivity;

• Accessibility – with a web browser and internet connectivity, access any time of day from anywhere you’re connected
• Cost-effective / more predictable costs – licensing fees, upgrades, backups, support typically bundled into a monthly or annual subscription fee
• Smaller IT footprint – maintenance and support are the responsibility of the service provider, smaller on-site IT support staff requirements
• High level of security – particularly for small to mid-sized organizations, the costs to provide the level of security for similar on-prem solutions is unobtainable – today’s cloud service providers offer redundant, highly secure instances
• Faster deployment – no need to install and spin up additional new hardware on-prem; new installations can often be implemented within minutes
• Scalability – licenses can be added or removed quickly based on your organization’s needs

As a result of the global pandemic in 2020/2021, organizations of all sizes accelerated their implementation of Cloud infrastructure with a workforce that was either fully remote or within a hybrid remote/in-office environment. Over time, it was evident that this new way of working was here to stay, allowing companies to hire and employ workers from all over the world.

Agile Hive – Forward

Having found great success and a loyal customer following with both server and Data Center offerings, Agile Hive undertook development of our Jira Cloud offering in 2022. The time had come to introduce our complete, “SAFe® in Jira” (and now Jira Cloud) solution, to both our existing customers, as well as welcoming new practitioners of Scaled Agile Framework’s agile at scale methodology, with all the benefits of Cloud infrastructure.

Planning Interval Planning Made Easy

The PI (formerly Program Increment) Planning event is most often considered THE most important event regardless of SAFe® level being implemented, and with the latest iteration of Agile Hive Cloud, PI and Iteration Management is available for Jira projects on the Large Solution and ART level.

With roadmap boards for Portfolio, Large Solution, and ART projects, Agile Hive makes the coordinated managing of planning for teams of all sizes easier and much more efficient. Utilizing an integrated and compliant SAFe® artifact hierarchy and transparency in every issue, Agile Hive ensures a single source of truth (SSOT) for all artifacts.

The end goal, Value Delivery, comes from a proper and thorough PI execution at any and all levels of SAFe. Using a flow-based, methodical approach, demonstrating and delivering value in manageable blocks, is crucial. The process of simultaneously executing the current PI while also preparing for the next one can become a reality thanks to the implementation of Agile Hive into your Jira environment.

Whether PI Planning is in-person, remote, or hybrid, use Agile Hive Cloud as your single source of truth to visualize and manage iterations, how teams will contribute to the work and dependencies. You can easily visualize dependencies across multiple teams and arrange features into swimlanes.

Seamless Jira Cloud Integration

With perfect integration alongside your Atlassian Cloud site, accurate SAFe® nomenclature on every level, frequent product updates, and a clearly defined roadmap, with no impact on your existing Jira projects, Agile Hive “has your back” when integrating into your Jira Cloud environment. And while it is possible to adhere to SAFe® principles within Jira without a tool like Agile Hive, it requires quite a bit of additional manual work and third-party apps such as diagramming and documentation.

As a certified Scaled Agile Platform Partner since 2019, you’ll always know you’re up to date with the latest SAFe® standards using Agile Hive Cloud!

Roadmaps and Hierarchies

Adjusting roadmaps in Agile Hive Cloud is drag-and-drop easy. Plan the work on a visible Roadmap and bring all your stakeholders and implementers together, aligned around how the work will be implemented to meet your organization’s strategy. Keep levels of scaling in perspective with the ability to easily track how Strategic Themes and Epics are implemented into Features and Stories. And no worries, Agile Hive takes care of linking the Jira projects in the background.

Formerly “Hive Manager”, the My Organization overview lets you see at a glance and navigate through all your SAFe® levels.

Full Documentation and Training

You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.

Our Documentation site has been designed to be easy to use, concise, and user-friendly. With everything you’d need to get Agile Hive Cloud in place and configured, you and your organization will be up and running before you know it. Updated in cooperation with our development team, users will be in the know about the latest features and enhancements. We are adding content all the time, including videos, how-to’s, product feature reviews, and more.

The Road Ahead

As of the writing of this article (April 19, 2023) the following features are either currently in development or at the initial stages of release;

• Reports on Iteration & PI progress for projects on every SAFe® layer
• Flow Metrics (as highlighted in SAFe® 6.0)
• Issue List that gives an overview of all tasks for any project and provides inline editing to quickly adjust planning
• Jira templates & schemes for easier setup and SAFe® conformity

The Next Step Is Up To You!

Interested in seeing firsthand how Agile Hive can become the bridge for you and your team or organization between Jira and your aspirations with SAFe®? If so, we’d love to start a conversation with you. 

You can find out more about Agile Hive here on our website, on our Documentation site, and when you’re ready, we hope you’ll schedule a demo with one of our team members. 

We look forward to working with you soon!

Further Reading

Release Train Engineers – Empowered for Greatness with Agile Hive

SAFe® 6.0 Is Upon Us – What’s New?

Agile Hive Implementation Project

In Focus: Who or What is the LACE?

SAFe with Atlassian tools: Agile Hive is a Scaled Agile Platform Partner