When enterprises commit to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®), one of the first challenges they face is translating lean-agile principles into day-to-day tooling. Atlassian Jira is a natural fit for agile teams, but scaling to the program, large solution, and portfolio levels requires more than just out-of-the-box configurations. That’s where Agile Hive comes in—a purpose-built solution that extends Jira to support SAFe practices and terminology. Even better, Agile Hive is highly customizable, enabling organizations to tailor the framework to their unique context while preserving alignment with SAFe principles.
Why Customization Matters in SAFe
SAFe is a framework, not a prescription. While it provides structured guidance for roles, events, artifacts, and responsibilities, organizations vary widely in culture, maturity, and operating models. Some may need additional compliance reporting, others may emphasize lean portfolio management, while still others might prioritize visibility into cross-team dependencies.
Customization allows enterprises to:
- Reflect their unique organizational structure while staying aligned to SAFe layers.
- Adapt terminology to match company language without losing the intent of SAFe roles and events.
- Streamline reporting to match the needs of executives, release train engineers (RTEs), and team leads.
- Iteratively evolve practices as agile maturity increases.
Agile Hive makes this possible within Jira by providing a SAFe-aligned foundation that organizations can build upon.
Agile Hive’s SAFe-Aligned Building Blocks
Before diving into customization, it’s worth noting what Agile Hive delivers out of the box:
- SAFe terminology baked into Jira (Planning Interval instead of Program Increment (PI), ARTs, Solution Trains, etc.).
- Templates for SAFe ceremonies like PI Planning and Inspect & Adapt.
- Hierarchical issue types that align with SAFe work items (e.g., Epics, Capabilities, Features, Stories).
- Visualization tools like the ART Planning Board for dependencies and objectives.
- Preconfigured roles and permissions reflecting SAFe responsibilities.
This creates a solid baseline. But every organization can tweak these structures to reflect its reality.
Key Areas of Customization in Agile Hive
Tailoring Work Item Hierarchies
SAFe defines a hierarchy—epics flow down to capabilities, then features, and finally stories. But organizations may want additional granularity. For instance:
- A regulated enterprise might introduce a “Compliance Requirement” issue type that ties to features.
- A hardware/software hybrid organization may need to distinguish between “System Features” and “Software Features.”
- A portfolio with multiple ARTs may want to create custom labels or fields to track which train owns delivery.
Agile Hive allows you to add new issue types, fields, and workflows while maintaining linkage to SAFe’s intended flow of value.
Configuring PI Planning to Match Reality
PI (Planning Interval) Planning is central to SAFe, but no two organizations run it exactly the same way. Agile Hive’s ART Planning Board can be customized by:
- Adjusting swimlanes or columns to reflect specific planning steps.
- Adding custom fields like risk categories or budget allocations for features.
- Configuring dependency views to highlight inter-train dependencies differently (e.g., by risk level or business priority).
- Automating objective scoring to reflect how leadership evaluates commitments.
This ensures that PI Planning in Jira mirrors the ceremony as it happens in the room—or virtually.
Adapting Metrics and Reports
Metrics are powerful, but only if they speak to decision-makers. Agile Hive reporting can be customized to:
- Highlight metrics (PI Progress, Story Points Burned, Load vs Capacity, etc.) tailored for an organization’s maturity.
- Adjust OKR alignment views to show how strategic themes translate to team-level execution.
With Jira dashboards and Agile Hive’s built-in reporting, leadership gets the insights they need without wading through irrelevant detail.
Role-Based Customizations
Different SAFe roles consume Jira differently:
- RTEs may need dashboards surfacing dependencies, risks, and objectives across the ART.
- Product Managers may prefer a portfolio epic roadmap with weighted shortest job first (WSJF) prioritization.
- Business Owners might want lightweight reports tied to outcomes instead of granular tasks.
Agile Hive makes it possible to configure role-based views and permissions, so each persona engages with SAFe practices in a way that matches their responsibilities.
Integration with Enterprise Toolchains
No enterprise operates Jira in isolation. Customization often means integrating Agile Hive with:
- DevOps pipelines for automated progress updates.
- Collaboration tools like Confluence for meeting notes, decision logs, and wikis.
- Compliance and governance tools to ensure traceability.
Agile Hive’s open approach allows organizations to plug Jira into their broader ecosystem while keeping SAFe artifacts as the single source of truth.
Balancing Customization with SAFe Alignment
One risk of customization is straying too far from SAFe’s intent, creating confusion or undermining alignment. Agile Hive mitigates this risk by:
- Providing a SAFe-compliant baseline that organizations can extend without losing core alignment.
- Allowing gradual adoption—start with out-of-the-box SAFe practices, then customize as maturity grows.
- Offering support and best practices from the Agile Hive team, ensuring that customizations enhance rather than dilute SAFe adoption.
Think of Agile Hive as scaffolding: it gives structure while still letting you shape the building.
How Can We Help With Your SAFe Transformation?
Implementing SAFe at scale requires more than theory—it requires practical tooling that reflects how teams and leaders actually work. Agile Hive extends Jira to provide a ready-made SAFe foundation while offering the flexibility to customize hierarchies, ceremonies, metrics, roles, and integrations.
For enterprises, this balance of standardization and flexibility is the key to scaling effectively. With Agile Hive, organizations don’t just “do SAFe”—they shape it to fit their strategy, culture, and way of working. To learn more or schedule a personalized demonstration, please reach out to us!
Related Reading
- The Value of PI Planning in SAFe® — and How Agile Hive Makes It Easier
- How Agile Hive Streamlines SAFe® in Jira
- Unlocking Agility at Scale: What SAFe® Is and Why Enterprises Should Care
- Applying the CALMS Framework in Scaled Agile: Strengthening DevOps at Enterprise Scale
- From Team to Portfolio: Understanding SAFe®’s Four Levels with Agile Hive
- Implementing WSJF in Jira: Unlocking Agile Prioritization
- SAFe® Expert Sessions (YouTube)
