As our product became more complex, our infrastructure needed to be more robust, and we had to expand beyond IT. It was time to think about a scaling model to increase predictability, alignment, and performance across the enterprise.
SproutLoud’s journey began in 2006 with a small team and a clear vision: to transform channel marketing by helping major brands sell better through local channels. Over time, the company grew rapidly, reaching nearly 200 employees and expanding its product offerings. This growth brought complexity — the product and infrastructure had to evolve, and the organization needed a new way to scale.
By 2014, with an office in South America and a growing client base, SproutLoud’s leadership recognized that their existing models were insufficient for their scale and complexity. As Ramesh Nori, Director of Agile PMO and Agile Coach, explains, “The models we had were not on par with our growth. It was time to think about a scaling model to increase predictability, alignment, and performance across the enterprise.”
The necessity of scaling beyond IT
SproutLoud had been experimenting with Lean-Agile practices since 2009, adopting Scrum and Kanban at scale. These practices provided a foundation, but the pace of the company’s growth demanded a more robust framework. The complexity of coordinating multiple teams, aligning with business objectives, and maintaining delivery cadence was stretching their existing processes.
The leadership realized scaling was not just about adding more teams — it involved integrating IT and business functions more tightly, creating shared visibility, and distributing decision-making effectively.
Why SAFe was the right fit
In mid-2015, SproutLoud evaluated various scaling frameworks and settled on the Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®). “When we found SAFe, we thought, ‘That’s a perfect match!’” says Nori. The framework resonated because it addressed their specific pain points:
- It provided guidance on allocating resources and filling new roles.
- It introduced a structured approach to distributed decision-making.
- It offered a way to scale predictability and alignment across multiple teams.
CTO Anjan Upadhya adds, “SAFe addressed our pain points and offered suggestions on allocating resources, filling in new roles, and introduced a way to approach distributed decision-making, which we needed at the time.”
The executive team backed the decision, enabling rapid deployment.
Rolling out SAFe: from training to execution
SproutLoud’s nine years of prior Lean-Agile experience eased the transition. Many teams were already familiar with the fundamental concepts, which helped accelerate adoption.
Key steps in the rollout included:
- Sending one team member to SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) training in Washington, D.C.
- Conducting SAFe for Teams training for the development teams.
- Providing Leading SAFe courses for managers and stakeholders.
Even though not all stakeholders were SPC-certified initially, SproutLoud launched its first Program Increment (PI) planning meeting and Agile Release Train (ART) in 2015. This early adoption allowed them to begin using the framework immediately within their existing development processes.
Nori reflects, “We began using the Framework immediately, which helped us scale from three to seven teams.”
New rituals and continuous improvement
SproutLoud adopted Inspect and Adapt sessions at the end of each PI and sprint. These sessions allowed teams to reflect on their processes, identify improvements, and evolve the product development cycle iteratively.
This iterative mindset ensured the framework was not a rigid imposition but a living process adapted to SproutLoud’s unique context.
Aligning business and IT through PI planning
One of the most significant changes SAFe introduced was bringing business owners and development teams together for PI planning. This alignment created clarity and focus.
Ramesh Nori explains, “Business owners explained the ask, making requests much clearer for IT teams. That was fundamental.”
This shared understanding reduced ambiguity and improved prioritization, enabling teams to deliver more effectively on business objectives.
Absorbing rapid headcount growth with clarity
Between 2015 and 2018, SproutLoud hired over 50 new employees. SAFe’s clearly defined roles and ceremonies helped absorb this rapid growth. Nori notes, “With clearly defined roles, the team dynamic became very clear and easy to understand. Even if we had to reconfigure teams, the Framework kept team members on the same page.”
This clarity reduced onboarding friction and maintained team cohesion despite organizational changes.
Overcoming resistance and embedding new ways of working
Adopting SAFe was not without challenges. Team members had to become familiar with new roles, artifacts, and ceremonies. There was natural resistance to changing established ways of working.
SproutLoud addressed these challenges through:
- Regular training sessions to build SAFe fluency.
- Emphasizing the importance of having the right people in the right roles before transformation.
- Encouraging gradual adoption and celebrating early wins.
Over time, teams began to embrace the framework and see tangible benefits.
Introducing product and engineering teams to clarify responsibilities
A fundamental organizational change was the creation of two dedicated teams: the Product team and the Engineering team. This split helped clarify ownership and reduce stress caused by poorly defined work.
Nori states, “We now have a dedicated product team with a product manager and product owners working to help with artifacts such as Epics, Features, and Stories. This has helped ease the stress on the system due to poorly defined work items.”
This division allowed product managers to focus on defining and prioritizing work, while engineering teams concentrated on execution and quality.
Structuring work with strategic themes, epics, and user stories
SAFe introduces a hierarchy of work items that helps teams manage complexity:
- Strategic themes: High-level business objectives that guide product direction.
- Epics: Large initiatives that deliver significant value aligned to strategic themes.
- Features and user stories: Smaller work units that break down epics into implementable pieces.
This structure helped SproutLoud better organize and communicate priorities across teams.
Maintaining code quality through continuous delivery
Alongside process improvements, SproutLoud focused on technical excellence. They enhanced their continuous delivery pipeline and implemented improved GIT-automated workflows.
These technical investments ensured that as the teams scaled, code quality remained high, and deployments became more predictable.
The impact of SAFe on SproutLoud’s product development
Implementing SAFe brought multiple improvements:
- Increased predictability of delivery through regular PI planning and synchronization.
- Better alignment between business goals and technical execution.
- Clearer roles and responsibilities, reducing confusion and overlap.
- Improved ability to onboard new employees and integrate them into teams.
- Enhanced collaboration between product managers and engineering.
- Continuous improvement culture through Inspect and Adapt sessions.
Field Exercise: Define a product theme and build epics and stories
Take a product you are familiar with — it could be a product at your current company or a well-known digital product.
- Define a strategic theme that aligns with a high-level business objective.
- Write an epic hypothesis statement that describes the initiative under this theme.
- Break down the epic into user stories that represent the specific work items.
- Reflect on how this structure helps clarify priorities and align teams.
Spend 15–20 minutes on this exercise. The goal is to practice translating business strategy into actionable backlog items.
Test yourself: Prioritizing work in a scaling context
You are a product manager at a rapidly growing SaaS startup in Bangalore. The company is scaling from five to twelve engineering teams. The CEO has introduced a strategic theme of 'Enhance customer onboarding experience.' You have three epics under this theme: (1) Build an interactive onboarding tutorial, (2) Improve signup speed by refactoring backend APIs, (3) Add in-app messaging for onboarding support. Engineering capacity is limited. You must prioritize and communicate your plan to business owners and engineers.
The call: Which epic do you prioritize first, and how do you justify your choice to stakeholders?
Your reasoning:
Where to go next
- Understand Agile and Lean principles in depth: Lean-Agile Foundations
- Learn how to run effective PI planning sessions: Program Increment Planning
- Build skills in writing epics and user stories: Backlog Management
- Explore continuous delivery and DevOps practices: Continuous Delivery
- Develop cross-functional stakeholder communication: Stakeholder Management
- Advance your leadership in product teams: Product Leadership