Welcome to an enlightening journey that unveils the significance, responsibilities, and strategic impact of an Enterprise Architect within the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). In this blog, we delve into the pivotal role that Epic Owners play in harmonizing innovation, technology, and business objectives. But before we jump in, let’s take a quick look at who exactly an Epic Owner is?
Who is an Epic Owner?
In the SAFe framework, the Epic Owner is a visionary leader who is being entrusted with steering the course of significant initiatives and translating business strategies into actionable plans and tasks. In brief, Epic Owners are responsible for coordinating epics through the portfolio Kanban system.
Epic Owners (EO) work collaboratively with stakeholders to define the Epic, the Lean business case, and the definition of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and are responsible for shepherding the epic through the portfolio Kanban system. If Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) approves the epic, the EO coordinates the introduction of the epic into implementation with the Agile Release Trains.
Roles and Responsibilities of Epic Owners
The Epic Owner’s responsibilities can be categorized into the following areas as shown in the figure below, followed by a detail look into each of these areas.
First Responsibility: Guiding Portfolio Epics
The Epic Owner guides epics through the Portfolio Kanban system from identification through implementation, collaborating closely with stakeholders and subject matter experts. The below figure illustrates the role of the Epic Owner in each state of the portfolio Kanban system.
Second Responsibility: Creating the Lean Business Case
Epics which reach the analyzing state in the portfolio kanban then require a more rigorous exploration, further investment to evaluate their cost and benefits and most importantly, a Lean Business Case.
The Epic Owner is primarily responsible for creating and presenting the Lean business case to Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) for a ‘go’ or ‘no-go’ decision. Approval, however, is not guaranteed, as enterprises typically have more ideas and opportunities than they can execute. Accordingly, when presenting the epic, the Epic Owner should focus on the merits of the business case, secure in the knowledge that the collaborative discussions that form the foundation of LPM will ensure they are making optimal investment choices.
Reaching to the stage of creating the Lean Business case and analysis requires collaboration among
- Business Owners
- System Architects
- Solution Architects
- Product Management
- Solution Management
- Agile Teams
Epic Owners take responsibility for the critical collaborations needed to analyze the epic and create the Lean business case. At the same time, Enterprise Architects typically coordinate the enabler epics that support the technical considerations for business epics.
Third Responsibility: Supporting the MVP’s Development
After the epic is approved, the Epic Owner works with ARTs to initiate the MVP’s development activities, following the SAFe Lean Startup Strategy to evaluate the business outcome hypothesis.
As recommended, a highly iterative build-measure-learn cycle for product innovation and strategic investments is built up, providing the economic and strategic advantages of a Lean startup by managing investment and risk incrementally while leveraging the flow and visibility benefits of SAFe. The output of a proven hypothesis is an MVP suitable for getting customer feedback that would warrant further investment by the value stream. If disproven, investment in the epic stops.
Fourth Responsibility: Coordinating the Epic’s Development
If the epic hypothesis is proven, Epic Owners often play a significant role in coordinating its implementation across value streams where they:
- Collaborate with Product and Solution Management and System and Solution Architects to decompose the epic into features and capabilities and help prioritize these backlog items in their respective ART and Solution Train Backlogs
- Participate in PI Planning, System Demo, and Solution Demo whenever there is critical activity related to the epic
- Work with Agile Teams that perform research spikes, create proofs of concept, mock-ups, etc.
- Coordinate and synchronize epic-related activities with sales, marketing, and other business units
- Facilitate the implementation of the epic through the continuous delivery pipeline and release on demand
- Understand and report on the epic’s progress to key stakeholders and LPM
The role of the Epic Owner typically continues until the ARTs have sufficiently integrated the epic into their roadmaps and the Epic Owner’s expertise or coordination is no longer required.
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Aman Luthra 
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