As organizations scale Agile with SAFe®, they often face one tough question: How do we make sure our architecture supports business agility—not just for one team, but across the entire Agile Release Train (ART) and, ultimately, the whole enterprise? Architectural enablers are the answer, yet tracking them across multiple ARTs can be challenging.

This post will guide you through practical ways to track architectural enablers across ARTs, why it’s vital, and how it ties into strategic planning, execution, and long-term agility. We’ll explore what architectural enablers are, how they’re managed, and which practices help organizations align technology investments with business needs.

What Are Architectural Enablers?

Architectural enablers are a specific type of enabler in the SAFe framework. Their primary job is to support the development and evolution of a solution’s architecture so that teams can build features reliably and at scale. They might include work like creating new APIs, developing common libraries, experimenting with new platforms, or upgrading infrastructure.

The SAFe framework defines enablers as work items that support the activities needed to extend the Architectural Runway, explore technical options, reduce risk, or support compliance. Architectural enablers are typically identified and tracked at the Program and Solution levels. They are just as critical as business features—because without the right architecture in place, new business features can grind to a halt.

To get a broader understanding of enablers in SAFe, you might find the official Enablers guidance from Scaled Agile helpful.

Why Tracking Architectural Enablers Matters

If architectural enablers fall through the cracks, organizations quickly encounter technical debt, platform fragmentation, and costly rework. Tracking these enablers across ARTs provides clear visibility, alignment, and the ability to manage dependencies proactively.

Key reasons to track architectural enablers include:

• Preventing technical debt: Untracked architectural work increases the risk of accumulating hidden debt.

• Synchronizing teams: ARTs often share technical dependencies. Without coordination, teams may duplicate work or block each other.

• Aligning with business objectives: When architectural work is visible, it’s easier to explain its value to business stakeholders and justify investment.

• Supporting continuous delivery: Modern architectures (such as microservices or cloud platforms) demand coordinated evolution, not isolated improvements.

These factors align with what you’ll learn in the Leading SAFe Agilist Certification Training, which covers architectural enablers as part of strategic portfolio management.

How Are Architectural Enablers Identified?

Enablers can be identified through several sources:

• Architectural Visioning: Solution and System Architects work closely with Product Management and business owners to define a technical vision.

• Emergent Needs: Teams may discover architectural work as part of feature development, such as the need for a new data service.

• Portfolio Epics: Large business or technical initiatives often surface enablers that affect multiple ARTs.

• PI Planning: Program Increment (PI) Planning is a key forum for discussing and prioritizing enablers alongside business features.

Architects, Product Owners, and Release Train Engineers collaborate to bring architectural enablers to the program backlog, ensuring they get appropriate visibility.

Where Are Architectural Enablers Tracked?

Architectural enablers are tracked in multiple backlogs:

• Portfolio Backlog: High-level technical enablers that span multiple ARTs or solutions.

• Solution Backlog: For solutions involving multiple ARTs, such as large products or systems.

• Program Backlog: The primary location for enablers that affect a single ART.

• Team Backlogs: Teams break down large enablers into actionable stories.

Visibility is key. Many organizations use visual management tools, such as Kanban boards, to track enablers alongside features. These boards allow all stakeholders—Product Management, Architecture, Release Train Engineers, and teams—to see the status, dependencies, and upcoming work at a glance.

For more on how backlogs are structured in SAFe, check out this SAFe Backlog guidance.

Synchronizing Architectural Enablers Across ARTs

Coordinating enablers across multiple ARTs takes more than just a backlog. Here are the main practices that keep everything aligned:

1. Architect Syncs and Communities of Practice (CoP)

Architects from each ART meet regularly in sync sessions or as part of a community of practice. This ensures architectural decisions, guidelines, and enabler work are consistent. Syncs help surface cross-ART dependencies early and avoid duplication.

2. Program Increment (PI) Planning

PI Planning brings all teams and ART leaders together every 8–12 weeks. During PI Planning, architectural enablers are presented, discussed, and planned. This is the ideal time to identify dependencies, negotiate priorities, and ensure that architectural enablers support the business features scheduled for the upcoming increment.

The SAFe Scrum Master Certification course covers the facilitation of PI Planning, highlighting the importance of including enablers in the process.

3. Portfolio Kanban and WSJF Prioritization

Organizations use Portfolio Kanban systems to visualize and manage enabler flow. Applying Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) prioritization ensures that the most valuable enablers—those that deliver the highest return for the least effort—are addressed first. This prevents “cool but unneeded” technical work from delaying critical business features.

You can read more about Portfolio Kanban in SAFe’s Portfolio Kanban guidance.

4. Program Boards and Dependency Tracking

During PI Planning, ARTs create program boards that show features, enablers, and dependencies. These boards are maintained throughout the PI and help teams and architects see how enablers are progressing, which other teams are involved, and whether anything is at risk of slipping.

5. Release Train Engineer (RTE) Oversight

The Release Train Engineer plays a central role in tracking the progress of architectural enablers. RTEs facilitate syncs, track risks, and help escalate or unblock work as needed. For more on the RTE’s role, the SAFe Release Train Engineer Certification Training goes deep into these practices.

Tracking Tools and Visual Management

A variety of tools can help with tracking architectural enablers:

• Jira Align, Rally, or Azure DevOps: Most organizations use digital tools to manage their backlogs, Kanban boards, and program boards.

• Custom Dashboards: Some organizations create dashboards to show the health and status of enablers across ARTs.

• Obeya Rooms (Big Room Planning): Visual, physical, or digital spaces where backlogs, roadmaps, and boards are visible to all.

Best Practice Tip: Use color coding, tagging, or swimlanes to make enablers clearly visible and distinguishable from business features.

Making Architectural Enablers Visible to Business

One challenge with architectural enablers is that their value is sometimes less obvious to business stakeholders. Here’s how to make their impact clear:

• Define clear acceptance criteria: What outcome does the enabler enable? For example, “New API available for team consumption.”

• Connect to business features: Show how the enabler unlocks future value or accelerates feature delivery.

• Use metrics: Track cycle time, lead time, and reduction in defects as enablers are implemented.

• Demo progress: Regularly demonstrate enabler outcomes during system demos, just as you would with business features.

These strategies are covered in the SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM) Certification, which teaches the balance between business and technical priorities.

Common Pitfalls in Tracking Architectural Enablers

Organizations sometimes struggle with tracking architectural enablers due to:

• Lack of visibility: Enablers are not visible in backlogs or boards.

• Poor prioritization: Technical work gets deprioritized in favor of “flashy” business features.

• Unclear ownership: No single owner for cross-ART enablers, leading to confusion.

• Insufficient capacity allocation: Teams overcommit to features, leaving little capacity for enablers.

• Fragmented tooling: Teams use different tools or naming conventions, making it hard to aggregate or compare enabler progress.

Solving these requires discipline in backlog management, clear agreements during PI Planning, and regular architecture syncs.

Capacity Allocation: Protecting Time for Enablers

SAFe recommends allocating a certain percentage of every ART’s capacity to enablers—often around 15–25%. This ensures that technical and architectural health keeps up with business delivery.

The SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Certification Training (see here) explores strategies for helping teams balance feature work and enabler work, protecting time for critical technical investments.

Case Study Example: Coordinating a Platform Upgrade

Suppose an organization needs to migrate all ARTs to a new cloud platform. This migration is a classic architectural enabler that spans multiple ARTs and solutions. Here’s how tracking might work:

1. Portfolio Backlog: The platform migration is entered as an Epic and broken down into major architectural enablers for each ART.

2. Solution and Program Backlogs: Each ART creates its own enabler items, coordinating through architecture syncs and PI Planning.

3. Dependency Mapping: Each ART’s program board shows dependencies between the migration work and features planned in the same PI.

4. Progress Tracking: Dashboards show migration progress and any risks or delays.

By tracking enablers in this way, organizations avoid surprises, reduce rework, and keep everyone aligned with business goals.

Conclusion

Architectural enablers are the glue that holds together scalable, resilient, and high-performing solutions in SAFe. Tracking them across Agile Release Trains is essential—not just for technical excellence, but for long-term business agility. By making architectural enablers visible, prioritizing them alongside features, and maintaining disciplined practices for synchronization and progress tracking, organizations can keep their technology stack healthy and responsive.

To deepen your understanding of architectural practices in SAFe, consider formal training such as the Leading SAFe Agilist Certification Training or SAFe Release Train Engineer Certification Training. These programs equip you with the skills needed to guide your teams and organization through successful scaling.

For more detail, the official Scaled Agile Framework guidance on enablers provides thorough, up-to-date explanations and examples.

---

If you’re looking for structured, hands-on expertise in tracking architectural work and scaling Agile, check out AgileSeekers’ range of SAFe certifications and training programs.

---

 

Also read - Using Enablers to Support Continuous Delivery Pipelines