Managing Backlogs Across Multiple ARTs Using Agile Tooling

Blog Author

Siddharth

Published

23 Oct, 2025

Managing Backlogs Across Multiple ARTs Using Agile Tooling

Managing multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs) is one of the toughest responsibilities a SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM) or Release Train Engineer faces. When different teams contribute to a shared portfolio, aligning their priorities, dependencies, and deliverables becomes a balancing act. Without structure and the right tooling, even the most disciplined Agile environment can slip into chaos.

Let’s break down how to effectively manage backlogs across multiple ARTs — not just through process, but through smart use of Agile tools that scale with your organization’s complexity.

1. The Challenge of Scaling Backlogs Beyond a Single ART

A single Agile Release Train (ART) typically includes multiple teams working toward a common business objective. When an organization operates multiple ARTs, the complexity increases exponentially:

Features depend on work from multiple trains.
Priorities may conflict across value streams.
Visibility into progress and dependencies becomes fragmented.

This is where Agile tooling plays a crucial role — it bridges the visibility gaps and keeps strategy, execution, and feedback connected.

Frameworks like SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) provide structure, but it’s the digital ecosystem — tools like Jira Align, Rally, and VersionOne — that bring that structure to life at scale. Professionals who pursue a SAFe agile certification often learn how these tools integrate with SAFe’s portfolio layers.

2. Understanding Multi-ART Backlog Hierarchy

Before diving into tools, it’s essential to understand how backlog hierarchy works across multiple ARTs.

Portfolio Backlog: Strategic Epics and initiatives, aligned with investment themes.
Value Stream Backlog: Capabilities and features that cut across ARTs.
Program Backlog (per ART): Features ready for PI Planning within that train.
Team Backlogs: Stories and enablers delivered by individual teams.

The trick is maintaining traceability across these layers. Each ART must stay focused on delivering features that roll up to broader business outcomes — and that alignment depends on consistent tooling and governance.

3. The Role of Agile Tooling in Multi-ART Management

Agile tools are not just trackers; they’re enablers of flow, visibility, and alignment. Let’s look at how the most common tools help manage complex SAFe environments.

a. Jira Align

Jira Align connects strategy to execution by synchronizing Jira Software with portfolio-level views. It allows:

Rolling up stories → features → epics automatically
Real-time visualization of dependencies across ARTs
PI Planning boards that track commitments and risks

When multiple ARTs are running concurrently, Jira Align ensures leaders and POPMs see where value is being delivered and where bottlenecks are forming.

b. Rally (formerly CA Agile Central)

Rally supports SAFe configuration natively. Its Portfolio Kanban view makes it easier to manage flow across multiple value streams. You can visualize:

Epic readiness and WIP limits
Feature progress by ART
Cross-team dependency mapping

Rally’s analytics dashboards also help identify trends in cycle time, predictability, and throughput — valuable insights when you’re managing several ARTs simultaneously.

c. VersionOne / Digital.ai Agility

VersionOne remains a favorite in mature SAFe enterprises. It supports multiple backlogs, synchronized planning boards, and enterprise-level reporting. The “Strategic Themes” module lets leaders connect investment decisions directly to ART performance, giving context to the work happening downstream.

4. Building a Unified Backlog Management System

When you manage multiple ARTs, the backlog system must reflect alignment without duplication. Here’s how to approach that:

Step 1: Establish a Common Taxonomy

Use consistent naming conventions and hierarchy definitions:

Epic → Capability → Feature → Story
This ensures traceability from strategy to execution. Most organizations customize this structure during Leading SAFe training, adapting it to their portfolio setup.

Step 2: Centralize the Portfolio View

Create a single source of truth — a Portfolio Kanban — that captures all initiatives spanning ARTs. This view helps leadership prioritize investments and monitor WIP limits at the enterprise level.

Step 3: Enable Multi-ART Synchronization

Use tooling integrations to connect ART backlogs:

Shared epics or features that sync across systems
Automated dependency tagging
Unified release calendars

With tools like Jira Align or Rally, dependencies are not hidden in spreadsheets; they’re visualized in real-time.

Step 4: Automate Dependency Mapping

Cross-ART dependencies are a primary cause of PI Planning friction. Use dependency boards and linkages to visualize:

Which ART owns the upstream work
Which iteration or PI the delivery is planned for
Whether dependencies are blocking downstream value

This proactive approach prevents last-minute surprises during execution.

5. Governance Without Bureaucracy

Multi-ART coordination often drifts into heavy governance — endless meetings, reviews, and manual reports. The solution is automation-driven governance that keeps control lightweight but effective.

a. Metrics and Dashboards

Modern tools generate real-time insights across all ARTs:

PI objectives completion
Feature progress across teams
Cumulative flow diagrams and predictability metrics

Dashboards in Rally or Jira Align help leaders spot systemic issues — such as overloaded ARTs or unbalanced value streams — without micromanaging individual teams.

b. WIP Limits and Guardrails

WIP limits at portfolio and value stream levels prevent overcommitment. Guardrails for budget allocation and capacity ensure resources stay focused on strategic outcomes.

Professionals who’ve completed a SAFe agilist certification learn how to implement these governance patterns without stifling agility.

6. Coordinating PI Planning Across ARTs

Program Increment (PI) Planning is the heartbeat of SAFe. When multiple ARTs share dependencies, coordination becomes critical.

Here’s what strong tooling support enables:

Shared PI Planning Events: Each ART’s board connects to a global program board.
Cross-ART Commitments: Features linked across trains auto-update when scope or timing changes.
Unified Risk Management: Risks identified by one ART appear across others’ dashboards.

A good practice is to simulate dependency resolution before the actual PI event. Jira Align’s “what-if” scenario planning helps visualize potential conflicts in iteration timing or resource load.

7. Handling Shared Services and Enablers

Not every team belongs to a single ART. Shared services like security, UX, or DevOps often support multiple ARTs simultaneously. Managing their capacity within tooling ensures predictability.

Assign these service teams:

Dedicated swimlanes for visibility
Capacity buffers within each PI
Tagging mechanisms for dependency tracking

This structure helps balance innovation with maintenance work, ensuring no ART overextends its dependencies.

8. Aligning Strategy to Execution

Managing backlogs isn’t just about prioritization — it’s about ensuring every feature ties back to business outcomes. SAFe emphasizes this through its Portfolio Vision → Epics → Capabilities → Features → Stories hierarchy.

Tools like Jira Align and VersionOne visualize this alignment, allowing executives to see how each ART contributes to measurable objectives. This is where Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) can be layered in to drive accountability and purpose.

For example:

Portfolio Objective: Improve customer retention by 10%.
Feature (ART 1): Enhance user onboarding flow.
Feature (ART 2): Automate customer follow-up workflows.

Together, these deliver measurable business impact rather than isolated feature delivery.

9. Using Data for Continuous Improvement

Once ARTs are synchronized, data becomes your greatest asset. Agile tooling provides analytics on:

Velocity trends
Defect rates
Flow efficiency
Predictability (planned vs delivered work)

These insights reveal where processes break down and where investment is needed. Continuous improvement relies on this data-driven feedback loop, not assumptions.

Professionals who complete SAFe agile certification training learn how to interpret these flow metrics and connect them to Lean-Agile principles.

10. Best Practices for Managing Multi-ART Backlogs

Let’s wrap this with practical recommendations that consistently work across large enterprises:

Keep portfolio and program backlogs separate but linked.
This prevents teams from losing autonomy while maintaining alignment.
Use automation for dependency tracking.
Avoid manual updates that quickly become outdated.
Establish clear Definition of Ready (DoR) and Done (DoD) across ARTs.
This ensures consistency when features move between teams.
Synchronize PI calendars across ARTs.
When all trains plan and deliver in sync, integration testing and release coordination become smoother.
Review metrics collectively.
Use retrospectives at the portfolio level to evaluate systemic improvements.
Empower ART leadership.
Let Product Managers, RTEs, and Architects collaborate on priorities rather than wait for top-down instructions.

11. Wrapping Up: The Strategic Edge of Agile Tooling

Managing multiple ARTs without a connected system is like steering several ships without a shared map. Agile tooling — when used thoughtfully — turns chaos into coordinated momentum.

By combining process discipline from SAFe with visibility from tools like Jira Align or Rally, enterprises can achieve true alignment between strategy and execution.

If you want to master this level of coordination and understand how large-scale value delivery works in practice, consider exploring Leading SAFe training. It helps you grasp not just the theory, but how to apply Lean Portfolio Management, backlog prioritization, and ART synchronization effectively.

Bottom line: Multi-ART backlog management isn’t just about juggling work — it’s about creating flow, visibility, and alignment. The right tools don’t just make it possible; they make it sustainable.

Also read - Integrating OKRs and SAFe PI Objectives: A Guide for POPMs

Also see - How POPMs Use Design Thinking in Feature Prioritization