A SAFe Agile Release Train (ART) is experiencing work items that sit in the 'In Progress' column of the Program Kanban for weeks while waiting for a single database administrator to perform schema changes. The database administrator is the only person with the necessary credentials and is often overloaded. According to SAFe's product development flow principles, what is the most effective action to improve flow?
This directly addresses the bottleneck by adding capacity to the constrained step. Cross-training and delegating credentials allow more work to flow through the schema-change step, reducing wait time and improving overall flow. SAFe encourages T-shaped skills and removing single-person dependencies to optimize the whole value stream.
Why this answer
The bottleneck is the single database administrator, which limits throughput. Cross-training team members and granting credentials increases capacity at that step, directly reducing wait time and improving flow. This aligns with SAFe's principle of optimizing the whole value stream and eliminating dependencies on single specialists.
Exam trap
The trap here is assuming that increasing WIP limits or adding pressure on the bottleneck will improve flow, when in fact it exacerbates queues and delays.