SAFe Summit 2025: Modernization, AI Native, and the EDGE of What’s Next
It’s here! It’s live! The cat is out of the bag!
It’s so great to finally have AI-Native out of SkunkWorks, and we’re at the EDGE of what’s next.
That is the undercurrent at this year’s SAFe Summit in Denver, where nearly 900 participants from 25+ countries and 120 partner organizations are gathered to connect, share ideas, and solve problems.
The opening keynotes from SAI’s CEO Steve Matthesen, Chief Methodologist Andrew Sales, and Planview CIO Mik Kersten made it clear: the future of SAFe isn’t about abandoning what got us here. It’s about modernizing the ecosystem, launching AI Native as a distinct path forward, evolving the framework to speak the language of business problems, and shifting operating models from outputs to outcomes.
Modernizing SAFe and Launching AI Native
CEO-Steve (as we affectionately refer to him) had a clear message focused on the reality of business today, and ambition for helping enterprises achieve ROI with AI.
SAFe stays central. There’s no pivot away from the framework. Instead, it’s being continuously modernized, with AI already woven into courses and new updates rolling out regularly. The expansion into hardware and government sectors strengthens the signal that agility is no longer a “tech-only” conversation.
AI Native debuts. AI-Native is not a SAFe bolt-on, but a distinct business unit and partner-led initiative focused on actionable enterprise AI solutions. New courses are live. The goal is to help enterprises achieve ROI from their AI investments in a compliant and secure way that leverages the acceleration of talent they already have on the bus. Steve also announced the acquisition of RoAI Institute to to bolster SAI’s bench strength related to AI research and thought leadership.
Community is the engine. With over 2.5 million people trained globally, the SAFe community continues to be a differentiator. For many attendees, especially those who are the lone agile champions inside their organizations, peer connection and shared problem-solving are key to helping their organizations thrive in the age of AI.
But Steve was also candid about the risks: many organizations are still failing to realize value from AI, often burning millions with unclear returns, and the pace of AI development means educational content risks going stale almost as soon as it’s published.
His message was a call to modernize with urgency while staying rooted in proven foundations.
The EDGE Framework and the Imperatives of AI
Where Steve spoke about modernization and launch, Andrew Sales zoomed in on method and practice. His theme: navigating complexity in the age of AI.
The EDGE Framework. EDGE is shorthand for the four forces reshaping every enterprise:
Exponential: AI tools hitting hundreds of millions of users in weeks.
Disruptive: Impacting not just tech, but healthcare, finance, and education.
Generative: Unlocking ideas and opportunities that didn’t exist yesterday.
Emergent: Producing capabilities no one forecasted, even by the creators.
Three Imperatives. To harness this complexity, organizations must:
Become AI-native.
Stay laser-focused on solving real business problems.
Relentlessly maximize value from SAFe.
Bridging the AI Chasm. Only 10–25% of organizations are truly seeing returns from AI. Most are stuck in the gap between opportunity and reality, derailed by a value gap, failure to operationalize, or chasing hype. Crossing this chasm requires vision, fluency, governance, and above all, a human-centric culture.
To support this, SAI announced:
New AI fluency courses, including a hands-on foundation and a change agent program.
A refreshed Product Owner / Product Manager course (launching Sept. 16) that embeds AI skills into day-to-day execution.
Integration of Comparative Agility with SAFe Co-Pilot, creating a closed-loop system where assessment data generates actionable recommendations directly linked to SAFe Studio assets.
An ROI calculator and executive guide, finally giving leaders a practical way to measure whether their SAFe investment is paying off.
The framework itself has also been reorganized around business problems. Instead of abstract competencies, practitioners can now navigate SAFe through disciplines tied to solving issues in portfolio strategy, marketing, workforce management, procurement, and more. It’s a shift from theory to impact, from practices to outcomes.
And perhaps most importantly: customization is now a foundational element. New guidance and workshops equip practitioners to adapt SAFe thoughtfully by adding, improving, and extending the framework without losing its essence.
Outputs to Outcomes: Rethinking Op Models
Then Mik Kersten took the stage to add another layer: even with modernization and EDGE, enterprises won’t win unless they fundamentally evolve their operating models.
His point was clear: in the age of AI, the constraint has shifted. Outputs are no longer scarce, AI makes knowledge work cheap and fast. The real constraint now is organizational productivity.
A few highlights:
Only 8% of value stream time in most enterprises is spent actually building. The rest is consumed by planning cycles, funding processes, release approvals, and security reviews. AI will only magnify this inefficiency unless operating models catch up.
The Outcome Loop. Strategy → outputs → outcomes, all connected by feedback loops. The key is measuring outcomes (customer, business, employee value), not just counting features delivered.
The Outcome Tree. Scaling outcome loops across the organization, making value streams the primary structure. All work becomes mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.
Four shifts every enterprise must make:
Functions → Flow (value streams as the operating backbone).
Chaos → Cadence (unified planning, budgeting, and execution cycles).
Messy Matrix → Modularity (align org, tech, and AI architectures).
Dependencies → Ownership (clear accountability at the value stream level).
Second OS becomes the first. The agile “second operating system” many companies layered on top of their hierarchies can no longer be secondary. It must become the primary operating system to keep pace with AI-driven change.
Mik clearly points out: AI will give you 10x output capacity, but if your operating model is stuck in outputs, you’ll just scale waste.
What It Means for Leaders and Practitioners
Together, the three keynotes tell a story of continuity and reinvention. SAFe is being expanded, sharpened, and re-anchored to business reality in an age where AI is the defining force.
A few reflections stand out:
AI Native is a bet on the future. By carving AI Native out as its own offering, a distinct business unit, SAI is acknowledging that the rules are changing too fast for incremental tweaks. This will live or die on its ability to deliver business value.
EDGE reframes the conversation. The framework is about navigating exponential disruption. If organizations doesn’t evolve to meet that challenge, they will becomes irrelevant. The EDGE model is a tool that will help organizations continually reinvent and plan for a continuously shifting future.
Outcomes > Outputs. Mik’s reminder is critical: speed without outcomes is waste. Leaders must shift operating models to focus on value delivered, not artifacts produced.
Community matters more than ever. For every enterprise trying to modernize, there are individuals inside fighting lonely battles. Connection is how ideas spread, courage builds, and momentum sustains.
Customization is a maturity signal. Organizations that treat SAFe as a static blueprint will stagnate. Those that adapt it to their unique contexts, without losing the core, will unlock disproportionate value.
Closing Thought
One line from Andrew stuck with me:
“The ability to solve real business problems is the best measure of success.”
AI, EDGE, SAFe, new competencies, ROI calculators: all of it means nothing if it doesn’t translate into solving business problems faster, better, and with more human creativity and clear ROI.
We’re entering the AI-native era of enterprise agility. The frameworks, tools, and courses are here. The real question is whether leaders will step up, customize wisely, and cross the chasm from opportunity to reality.
More to follow
-Adam