Shifting Left on Audits

“How do you make auditors happy? It’s in the built-in quality stuff… not being the headless chickens anymore, being pretty much relaxed if someone pushes the Audit button.” — Stephan Neck

 

In this episode of SPCs Unleashed, the crew tackles a topic many practitioners dread: audits. Too often, audits trigger a frantic rush to patch documentation and hide gaps—a fire drill of “headless chickens.” But as the hosts remind us, audits in a SAFe® context don’t have to be adversarial. Done well, they can accelerate transformation by embedding quality, transparency, and risk management into everyday ways of working.

From Fear to Partnership

For many developers, the word audit recalls late nights preparing to fake compliance. But the hosts stress that auditors are not enemies—they share the same goal: ensuring sustainable, risk-aware transformation. By treating auditors as stakeholders and colleagues rather than bureaucratic gatekeepers, organizations can shift the dynamic from fear to collaboration.

5 Actionable Insights for Practitioners

1. Shift Left on Audits – Just as testing shifted left into daily work, audits should be integrated early. Invite auditors into transformation conversations instead of waiting for them at the end.
2. Build Audit Readiness with Built-In Quality – Practices like Definition of Done, automated compliance checks, and transparent dashboards mean audits become non-events instead of emergency scrambles.
3. Foster Collective Ownership – Move beyond the mindset that one person shields the team. Every role should understand why evidence matters and how it supports organizational safety.
4. Challenge the Myths – Many so-called “audit requirements” are organizational folklore, not law. Bringing auditors in early often exposes outdated practices and frees teams from unnecessary documentation.
5. Use Auditors as Accelerators – When aligned, auditors can clear away obstacles. One story described eliminating 75% of legacy documentation once auditors validated that automated test evidence was sufficient.

Conclusion

Audits are inevitable—but panic and compliance theater are optional. For SPCs, RTEs, and change agents, the opportunity is to reframe audits as continuous, built-in, and collaborative. Shifting left on audits not only reduces fear, it creates conditions where auditors become partners in transformation rather than roadblocks. When quality, transparency, and risk management are embedded into SAFe practices, audits evolve from disruptive events into quiet confirmations of progress.