According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, one of the main challenges of a DevOps transformation is when various groups in the organization have different directions and goals. This can create silos, conflicts, and inefficiencies that hinder the collaboration and integration needed for continuous delivery. For example, some groups may prioritize speed over quality, while others may prioritize security over innovation. Some groups may resist change and adopt outdated practices, while others may embrace new technologies and methodologies. These differences can lead to misalignment, duplication, and waste of resources that slow down the delivery pipeline and reduce the value to customers. Therefore, having a common vision, culture, and set of technical practices that support the SAFe CALMR approach to DevOps is essential for overcoming this challenge.

The Continuous Exploration aspect in SAFe primarily supports the key stakeholder objective of aligning business and technology. This phase focuses on exploring market needs and defining solutions that deliver the most significant customer and business value within the constraints of technology and feasibility. It helps ensure that the development efforts are in sync with business goals and market demands, thereby fostering alignment between various stakeholders..

The desired frequency of deployment in SAFe is continuous, meaning that new functionality can be deployed to production as soon as it is ready, without waiting for fixed release dates or schedules. Continuous deployment is an aspect of the CDP that automates the migration of new functionality from a staging environment to production, where it is made available for release.Continuous deployment enables the ability to release value at any time, in a sustainable way

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide and handbook, Value Stream Mapping helps reveal bottlenecks to the flow of value in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline. This means that Value Stream Mapping helps teams identify and eliminate any activities or processes that slow down or stop the delivery of value to customers.The handbook states that 'Value Stream Mapping helps reveal bottlenecks to the flow of value in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline.'1Therefore, Value Stream Mapping helps teams optimize their value stream and improve their delivery performance.

Culture is a core DevOps principle. DevOps is not only a set of technical practices, but also a mindset and a culture that supports the integration, automation, and collaboration needed to effectively develop and operate a solution. DevOps culture is based on the following values and behaviors:

Shared responsibility -- DevOps culture fosters a sense of shared ownership and accountability for the entire solution lifecycle, from ideation to operation. Development and operations teams work together, not only to help each other, but also to ensure that the overall organization succeeds. DevOps culture eliminates the blame game and the silo mentality, and encourages mutual trust and respect among all stakeholders.

Continuous learning -- DevOps culture promotes a culture of continuous learning and improvement, where teams are constantly seeking feedback, experimenting with new ideas, and learning from failures. DevOps culture embraces a growth mindset, where teams are not afraid to try new things, challenge the status quo, and learn from their mistakes. DevOps culture also supports a learning organization, where teams share their knowledge and best practices, and leverage the collective intelligence of the whole enterprise.

Customer focus -- DevOps culture emphasizes the importance of delivering value to the customer, and aligning the solution to the customer needs and expectations. DevOps culture applies customer-centric and design thinking approaches, such as personas, empathy maps, and customer journeys, to understand and empathize with the customer problems and desires. DevOps culture also validates the assumptions and hypotheses about the customer value proposition, by collecting and analyzing data and feedback from the customer.

Automation -- DevOps culture leverages automation to improve the efficiency, quality, and reliability of the solution delivery process. DevOps culture applies automation to various aspects of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline, such as testing, integration, deployment, monitoring, and security.DevOps culture also uses automation to reduce manual work, eliminate human errors, and accelerate feedback loops5