How to Sustain Momentum After Your First ART Launch

Blog Author

Siddharth

Published

11 Jul, 2025

How to Sustain Momentum After Your First ART Launch

So, you’ve just wrapped up your first Agile Release Train (ART) launch. The room is buzzing, teams are motivated, and leadership is finally seeing what all the SAFe talk was about. Here’s the thing though—early excitement fades, and without a deliberate approach, momentum can stall before your second PI even gets underway. How do you avoid that? How do you keep the fire going, so your investment in SAFe actually pays off?

Let’s break down what it really takes to sustain momentum after your first ART launch.

1. Don’t Treat Launch as a Finish Line

The first launch is a milestone, not a destination. If you treat it like a box checked, the energy will vanish almost overnight. Instead, position it as the foundation for continuous improvement. Leadership needs to keep showing up. Teams need to know this is the new normal, not a special event. One way to reinforce this mindset is to revisit the vision and the why behind your SAFe implementation regularly—this is what ties the ART back to business outcomes.

Tip: Make the business outcomes visible. Show how ART delivery impacts real customers or revenue.

2. Invest in Relentless Improvement

You hear a lot about relentless improvement in SAFe, but most organizations get lazy after the first launch. If you want to keep the momentum, inspect and adapt needs to be more than a calendar event. Get feedback from teams, system demos, and retrospectives. Then, act on it. When teams see their input leading to real changes, engagement soars.

Some tactics that work:

Run smaller, targeted improvement experiments between PIs.
Share “before and after” stories to highlight progress.
Make improvement a leadership talking point, not just a team exercise.

For a deeper understanding of how you can sharpen this skill, consider Leading SAFe Agilist Certification Training, which covers practical ways to drive and sustain change at scale.

3. Protect and Grow the ART Backlog

A healthy, prioritized backlog is your ART’s heartbeat. The trouble is, after the first PI, teams and Product Owners sometimes slip back into old habits—backlogs become cluttered, business alignment fades, and velocity tanks. The fix? Make backlog health a regular topic in PI syncs and ART syncs. Keep business and technology priorities tightly aligned.

Action steps:

Revisit the definition of ready and done.
Hold quarterly backlog refinement workshops.
Invite business stakeholders to backlog reviews—keep them invested.

If you’re serious about this, check out the SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager POPM Certification for more practical backlog management techniques.

4. Support Team Maturity

Teams won’t magically become high-performing after one PI. They need time, coaching, and space to grow. Keep investing in team-level Agile coaching, especially for Scrum Masters and Release Train Engineers. Let teams own their process improvements, but nudge them toward continuous learning.

How you support them:

Schedule recurring coaching clinics or Lean-Agile workshops.
Celebrate small wins as teams improve their flow and predictability.
Pair less mature teams with experienced ones for knowledge sharing.

If your Scrum Masters need to step up, point them to SAFe Scrum Master Certification or SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Certification Training.

5. Keep Leadership Involved

Momentum fizzles fast when leaders disappear after launch. ARTs need visible, consistent leadership support—whether that’s unblocking issues, sponsoring improvement initiatives, or simply showing up for PI demos and retros. The best organizations make ART health and PI objectives a standing item in leadership meetings.

What helps:

Leaders join Inspect & Adapt and PI Planning—not as guests, but as active participants.
Set up ART-level dashboards that track both business and flow metrics.
Encourage leaders to ask “what’s blocking you?”—and act on it.

Here’s a solid external guide on Agile leadership behaviors that’s worth sharing with your management team.

6. Strengthen the Role of the Release Train Engineer

The RTE is the glue. Post-launch, their job shifts from organizer to coach, change agent, and problem solver. If you want to maintain momentum, invest in your RTE. Give them time for networking with RTEs outside your company. Encourage them to bring fresh ideas to the table.

Good practices:

Schedule regular RTE-led ART syncs.
Have your RTEs attend community of practice events.
Make them visible champions of Lean-Agile principles.

If you want RTEs who can handle this, consider SAFe Release Train Engineer Certification Training.

7. Track the Right Metrics—And Share the Story

Data alone doesn’t sustain momentum, but meaningful metrics—when made visible—drive smarter conversations and accountability. Don’t fall into the trap of vanity metrics. Focus on real flow, predictability, and business value delivered.

Metrics that matter:

PI predictability (how well do teams deliver on PI commitments?)
Lead time and flow efficiency
Business outcomes tied to ART objectives

Here’s a solid external reference on Agile metrics to help you get started with practical measurement.

8. Evolve the Change Agents (LACE, SPCs, Coaches)

Your Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE), SPCs, and Agile coaches were critical to your launch—but their real value comes after, as you build and sustain new habits. Encourage them to keep learning and experimenting, not just policing compliance. Their job is to be the cultural glue and a source of fresh energy.

How to keep them energized:

Sponsor their attendance at SAFe summits or learning events.
Let them run experiments with new practices (mob programming, value stream mapping, etc).
Rotate them across ARTs for cross-pollination.

9. Lean on Communities of Practice

Don’t underestimate the impact of regular communities of practice (CoPs) for Scrum Masters, Product Owners, DevOps, and so on. These groups share learnings, spread good practices, and solve problems together. They’re also a great spot to surface cross-team blockers and new improvement ideas.

How to build them:

Schedule bi-weekly or monthly CoPs.
Make participation expected, not optional.
Rotate leadership of these sessions to keep things fresh.

10. Normalize Continuous Learning

Finally, the best way to sustain momentum is to make learning part of your DNA. Budget time for training, workshops, and cross-team demos. Celebrate those who pick up new skills or certifications. Treat learning as a core value, not a checkbox.

You can always nudge your teams toward formal learning tracks like SAFe Scrum Master Certification or more advanced programs as they grow.

Final Thoughts

Here’s what it boils down to: sustaining momentum after your first ART launch is about staying committed to the journey, not just the kickoff. When you treat the first launch as the start of something bigger—when you make improvement, leadership support, backlog discipline, and learning habits visible and real—momentum takes care of itself.

SAFe isn’t about one big launch event. It’s about building a system where positive change becomes the norm. Invest in your people, keep the feedback loops tight, and keep learning. That’s how you make your ART more than just a one-hit wonder.

Want your teams to master these principles? Explore Leading SAFe Agilist Certification Training, SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager POPM Certification, SAFe Scrum Master Certification, SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Certification Training, and SAFe Release Train Engineer Certification Training for hands-on, actionable training.

If you want this broken down for a particular role or want some templates for tracking improvement or measuring success, just say the word.

Also read - Planning Your First ART Launch with Confidence

Also see - Measuring Progress During Your SAFe Journey