Observatory science operations software development for the SKA within a scaled agile framework

The SKA requires a comprehensive suite of applications to be prototyped in the current 'bridging' phase ahead of the formal start of construction, leading to full development in the subsequent construction phase. The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe R) has become an industry standard process for managing the development of large software systems, defining a set of processes to manage and coordinate the activity of multiple agile software development teams. SAFe has been adopted by the SKA, and is being used to coordinate a large number of globally distributed agile development teams; including the team developing prototypes of the Observatory Science Operation (OSO) applications. Much of the team who developed the OSO design for Critical Design Review (CDR) are now involved in the agile development of the OSO tools, and with the shift to SAFe development have a unique view on how to develop within SAFe from a plan that was developed anticipating a traditional waterfall software development process. Here we present an overview of how evolutionary prototypes of these tools (from proposal handling and assessment, through to observation design, planning, scheduling and execution) are being developed for the SKA within SAFe.