In SAFe, who is responsible for defining, maintaining, and evolving the Solution Intent?

The responsibility for defining, maintaining, and evolving the Solution Intent falls to Solution Management in the SAFe framework. Solution Management plays a critical role in coordinating the development of solutions that meet customer needs. This involves articulating the vision for the solution, incorporating stakeholder feedback, and ensuring that the requirements are well-documented and communicated to the Agile Release Trains (ARTs) involved in development.

Solution Intent serves as a single source of truth for the necessary requirements and the overall architecture of the solution, reflecting both current and future states. It is essential for managing complexity and aligns all teams toward a common understanding of what needs to be delivered. By taking ownership of the Solution Intent, Solution Management can effectively guide the development process, make informed prioritization decisions, and clarify any uncertainties in the evolving solution landscape.

In contrast, Product Management focuses primarily on the market and customer aspects, while the System Team supports infrastructure and integration tasks rather than the broad scope of the Solution Intent. Business Owners have a significant role in providing business context and decision-making but do not have the direct responsibility for the Solution Intent itself.