# The Potential of AI-Driven Assistants in Scaled Agile Software Development
## 5 Applying Review Results to SAFe Environments
### Challenges at the Portfolio Level  
**P1: Comparing and contrasting methods--**Selecting the right SADM can be challenging for many companies, due to the absence of a comparative evaluation model. [PERSON] et al. [9] noted that many employees think the choice of a development method often seems ad hoc, and sometimes it is unclear where the decision originates. Survey results discussed by [PERSON] et al. [8] indicated that a significant number of respondents found the actual implementation of SADMs to be overly complex and challenging to grasp. **P2: Balancing organizational structure and method--**The challenge in implementing SADMs arises from their predefined organizational structures, processes, and proprietary tools. These structures are evolving constantly in response to external competition and regulatory demands, making a one-size-fits-all approach challenging. In their research, [PERSON] et al. [7] documented a lack of support and commitment from the upper management. **P3: Top-down instead of bottom-up approach--**Many implementations have taken either a purely bottom-up or top-down approach, rather than a combination of the two. Research [9] indicated that top-down approaches have yielded mixed results. [PERSON] et al. [8] highlighted a set of challenges associated with the adoption of SADMs. One major challenge is that their implementation often leads to top-down organizational control, resulting in a structure resembling a waterfall approach that lacks true agility and flexibility. **P4: 100% adherence to the method--**When a formal method like SAFe is used, there is a common tendency to evaluate the success of agile transformation by how closely the organization adheres to the method rather than the value it actually delivers. It is observed that SADMs encounter difficulties or issues frequently during the final 20-30% of development activities, and an overwhelmingly large portion of the effort and stress (roughly 80-90%) is expended on achieving the last 5% [9]. Moreover, a notable issue highlighted in 30% of the selected papers in [7] is the lack of adequate agile training for scaled development environments. **P5: Lack of evidence-based use--**There are limited empirical case studies that examine the practical application of prescriptive principles in SADMs. According to organizations' reports [9], they encountered situations where employees faced significant challenges, and they struggled to find relevant information within the documentation of the method they were using in regard to their solution. **P6: Organizational aspects--**In [10], years of research have uncovered three prevalent challenges within organized scaled environments:  
* Disparity between plan-oriented, document-heavy approaches at the system level and the value-driven, agile approaches at the team level. * Requirement-based validation and verification processes, which are inherently incomplete and incremental. * Infrastructure and the critical aspect of timely upgrades. [PERSON] et al. [7] noted that many scaled development environments also grappled with the issue of uneven task allocation. Since management assigns tasks to teams, there is the potential for tasks to be distributed unevenly among team members. In [23; 34], we came across the long-abiding issue that is \"quick wins\". They address the fact that organizations need to focus on developing a portfolio of initiatives for a longer period of time, so that they can maximize their return on investment. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l} \hline \hline
**Challenge** & **AI-Driven Solution** & **Suggestions and Recommendations** \\ \hline LS1: Change and development support & [27] & [14; 17; 23; 31; 34] \\ LS2: Common system understanding & [14; 20; 23] & [17; 30] \\ LS3: Managing and documenting releases & / & [14; 29; 35] \\ LS4: Managing complex dependencies & / & [7; 14; 23; 29] \\ across ARIs and teams & & [7; 14; 23; 29] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 9: Suggestions for the resolution of challenges at the large-solution level.