Course Tutor(s)

Darren Wilmshurst

SAFe Fellow, Head of Consulting & Scaling Agile Practice Lead

Darren has a background in commercial management, being an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers following sixteen years in Retail Banking. This culminated as a Senior Personal Banking Manager within the Guildford Group of Branches. A career change into IT in the late 1990s has led to a number of senior IT positions with world-class organisations in the travel and transport industry. Darren is now an active Agile practitioner, coach and is a SAFe Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT), one of a small number in the UK. The SPCT Certification is the highest level of certification provided by Scaled Agile. He is also an accredited contributor to the SAFe Reference Guide. Darren is a Chartered IT Professional and frequent contributor to local Agile Interest Groups. He is the Treasurer of BCS Kent Branch and co-founder of the Kent Scrum User Group and more recently the founder of the London SAFe Meetup Group. He is a co-author of the BCS Book “Agile Foundations – Principles Practices and Frameworks” and a reviewer of “Valuing Agile; the financial management of agile projects

Course Content

Topics covered are:

• Exploring the RTE role and responsibilities
• Applying SAFe Principles
• Understanding the ART
• Planning a Program Increment
• Executing a Program Increment
• Fostering Relentless Improvement
• Serving the ART
• Continuing your Learning Journey

Learning Objectives

To perform the role of the RTE, you should be able to:

• Apply Lean-Agile knowledge and tools to execute and release value
• Assist with program and value stream execution
• Foster relentless improvement
• Build a high-performing ART by becoming a servant leader and coach
• Develop an action plan to continue your learning journey

Audience

The following individuals will benefit from this course:

• RTEs and Value Stream Engineers (VSEs)
• Program and project managers
• Scrum Masters
• Leaders and managers
• Agile coaches
• SAFe Program Consultants (SPCs)

Pre-requisites

To fully benefit from this class, you should have at least one current SAFe certification and launched or participated in at least one ART and one PI.

Course Preparation

Prior to attending the course, students should familiarise themselves with the Scaled Agile Framework

Useful documents:

• Welcome to SAFe 5.0 blog from Dean Leffingwell
• SAFe® 5.0 Introduction White Paper
• SAFe 5.0 video and PowerPoint presentation
• SAFe 5.0 Five Core Competencies of the Lean Enterprise brochure
• Version One State of Agile Survey

Certifying Bodies & Exams

Exam requirements

The first step toward becoming a Certified SAFe® Release Train Engineer is to attend this course. This is a requirement because attending the course provides access to all the study materials and the exam. Note that attending the course does not guarantee passing the exam

Exam prerequisite skills

• Cross-team communication skills
• Full use of SAFe Principles in action
• Coach Agile and SAFe facilitation and lead by example
• Launch or participate in at least one ART and one Program Increment (PI)
• Working knowledge of team dynamics
• Ability to manage stakeholders
• Minimum 3 months of real-world, hands-on experience as an RTE

Exam details

• Exam name – SAFe® 5 Release Train Engineer Exam
• Exam format – Multiple choice, multiple responses
• Exam delivery – Web-based (single-browser), closed book, no outside assistance, timed
• Exam access – Candidates can access to the exam within the SAFe Community Platform upon completion of your course
• Exam duration – Once the exam begins, candidates have 120 minutes (2 hours) to complete the exam.
• Number of questions – 60
• Passing score – 45 out of 60 (75%)
• Language – English
• Exam cost – First exam attempt is included as part of the course registration fee if the exam is taken within 30 days of course completion. Each retake attempt costs $50.
• Retake policy – Second attempt on exam (first retake) can be done immediately after first attempt. Third attempt requires a 10-day wait. Fourth attempt requires a 30-day wait.

Exam study materials

The exam is designed to measure knowledge and skill related to the job role. We highly recommend candidates use a variety of resources to prepare for this exam including:

• Course materials – The course materials are an essential artifact from the course and can be downloaded from the SAFe Community Platform. These materials can be used to refer back to the content that was presented during the class.
• Study guide – This comprehensive guide details the job role and all resources related to the exam, including a detailed reading list. Access is available through the Learning Plan in the SAFe Community Platform upon course completion.
• Practice test – The practice test is designed to be predictive of success on the certification exam,* and it has the same number of questions, level of difficulty, and time duration. It is part of the Learning Plan in the SAFe Community Platform and can be taken an unlimited number of times at no cost. *This is not the actual exam, and passing it does not guarantee success on the certification exam.
• Sample Questions – A web-enabled, flashcard style version of the sample questions can be found online and in the study guide

What You Receive

The class registration includes:

• Attendee workbook (physical version only)
• Eligibility to take the SAFe 5 Release Train Engineer exam

Attendees must attend all three days in order to qualify for the exam.

Attendees who pass the exam will receive:

• Certified SAFe® Release Train Engineer PDF certificate
• Certified SAFe® Release Train Engineer digital badge to promote your accomplishment online
• One-year membership to the SAFe Community Platform, which includes access to the RTE Community of Practice
• Access to Meetup groups and events that connect you with other SAFe Certified Professionals
• A variety of learning resources to support you during your SAFe journey.

Online Details

We use Zoom video conferencing to host our live online courses via a virtual classroom. We recommend that before registering participants run a zoom test meeting and check system requirements to ensure they are able to connect. Participants will also use our digital workspace, Mural and our Agile Tools Mobile app for collaboration with the class and completing exercises for the duration of the course. You’ll find links below to test and explain requirements for each of these tools.

Zoom requirements

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-Requirements-for-PC-Mac-and-Linux

Zoom test meeting

https://zoom.us/test

Mural requirements

https://support.mural.co/en/articles/2113688-technical-requirements-to-run-mural

Agile Tools Mobile App

https://www.radtac.com/resources/agile-tools-mobile-app/

On registration full information will be provided via joining instructions to each partcipant with instructions on how to acess the virtual classroom and additional tools.

Still unsure? Talk to our team of friendly learning advisors, they are here to assist before, during and after your class if you have any questions.