I really like, very much, SAFe 5.0… smack in the middle of the framework is Design Thinking! A much needed element that is added to Agile Product Development. Lots of folks miss this need: the Design Thinking aspect when creating anything and everything! I have been using this Design Thinking in all of my work a long time ago… but just now added this, explicitly, in SAFe 5.0.
Here is a must read: https://v5preview.scaledagileframework.com/design-thinking/
Continuously Explore the need of the customer… understand the problem to be solved…then design for the right solution that is feasible, viable, desirable and sustainable.
This fosters conversation, research, and lots of preparation … resulting in better benefits for the customer… resulting in finding better features and stories to deliver those benefits. The way we approach design is now like day and night in contrast — reversed; 180 degrees turnaround! Used to be ‘Features and benefits (FAB)’ … now, it is ‘Benefits and Features (BAF)’!