change is possible - go.tasktop.com
TRANSCRIPT
1Change is Possible
Change is Possible An Outcome-Driven Approach to SAFereg Success
e-book
ldquoSustainable change after all depends not upon compliance with external mandates or blind adherence to regulation but rather upon the pursuit of the greater goodrdquoDouglas B Reeves
3Change is Possible
The bright side of this global
disruption revealed
things that we previously thought impossible in such short time frames
We learned we were resilient when tested
and capable of assembling and
executing in ways we didnrsquot think
were possible beforerdquo
Brian Solis Global Innovation Evangelist Salesforce
Change is Possible
A global travel enterprise shifting its operations onto a single cloud platform in just six months A leading UK-based financial services company dramatically reducing customer mortgage application times There have been some remarkable digital success stories since the 2020 pandemic Accomplishments that can encourage transformation leaders to move away from the ldquochange is hardrdquo refrain toward the courage-building rallying cry that ldquochange is possiblerdquo Transformation leaders can take heart from these feats These were not easy endeavors but the simplicity of their goals made them feasible
Amid the chaos and confusion of the sudden shift to a digital-first economy these companies found clarity by focusing on their customersrsquo most pressing problems They crystallized the all-important ldquowhyrdquo to ensure the whole organization was pulling as one Everyone could see the compelling reason to change Product development teams stopped being task-takers and became outcome producers
Whether yoursquore implementing the Scaled Agile Frameworkreg (SAFereg) or another methodology to improve now is the time to go back to basics by focusing on outcomes instead of just blindly adopting new practices and technology
If you feel like yoursquove lost the thread of what you and your team set out to do keep the faith Returning to why you are making the change and focusing on shared goals can bring everyone back together as a unified team And combined with the right set of outcome-based metrics you can start tracking and celebrating the impact of your changes as you head toward your aspirational future state - whatever that may be
4Change is Possible
Like any methodology it wonrsquot magically
fix your business problems
without a clear understanding of
what yoursquore trying to solve
SAFe everything you need in one place
SAFe is the most popular framework for scaling software development (as per the latest State of Agile report) for a reason Itrsquos a freely available knowledge base that serves as a one-stop-shop for modern lean-agile practices and DevOps And crucially it has elevated the conversation between technologists business teams and leadership
By standardizing terminology and making training so pervasive and accessible therersquos a good chance that people across the organization have a similar definition for words like ldquoproduct ownerrdquo or ldquoproduct managerrdquo People are getting exposed to design thinking and other customer-centric concepts so that ldquoDevOpsrdquo isnrsquot just some abstract portmanteau This shared language means that better and more constructive cross-organizational discussions around business agility and technical agility can take place
Like any methodology however it wonrsquot magically fix your business problems without a clear understanding of what yoursquore trying to solve
5Change is Possible
Beware the SAFe facade
A glowing Forbes article A jaw-dropping keynote A competitorrsquos beaming blog on their scaling agile success often a SAFe journey (or any investment in a methodology) starts with a fear of missing out With the best of intentions leadership signs off on the investment with little to no context hoping that business success will naturally follow
Typically this ends up with organizations adopting SAFe in name only mdash going through the training certifications and ceremonies mdash without actually changing any of their practices From the outset there is a dangerous gulf in understanding in what SAFe is and what it can and canrsquot do Leadership typically understands the gist but not the deeper mechanics like their teams do who have been through all the training and certification
This inevitability leads to leadership becoming restless and frustrated with ROI when business outcomes do not improve Teams meanwhile can become demotivated frustrated and fall out of love with their job
Leadership becomes restless
and frustrated Teams fall out of
love with their job
6Change is Possible
Three common reasons SAFe falls flat
Many well-intended but misguided SAFe efforts derail because organizations implement SAFe for SAFersquos sake There are a number of common mistakes that organizations make
1 Applying old mindsets to new rolesOrganizations can get caught in the trap of using SAFe terminology without really changing the way that they work Simply calling an existing team a ldquoScrumrdquo team without reimagining how they are organized wonrsquot improve outcomes
2 Forgetting Agile principlesAnother reason SAFe fails is because Agile principles are not internalized They may form a great release train with five Scrum teams but they donrsquot limit work-in-progress meaning everyone is overcapacity and yoursquore trying to cram way too much down the pipeline So instead of going faster and meeting outcomes sooner the opposite happens you clog the system Naturally they will blame the framework for failure but in reality they didnrsquot implement the core principles the framework is based on
3 Following the bookOrganizations that try to adopt every part of SAFe at once will also struggle The SAFe diagram is a simplified visual representation of a very complex system of systems - and even then it can still look overwhelming Development teams comprising 150+ people will try and fit every role and do every practice But its not meant to be followed word for word itrsquos a framework thatrsquos meant to kickstart a conversation Allow time to figure out what parts work for your specific organization and your specific problem(s)
7Change is Possible
Remember the why a lazer focus on outcomes
SAFe offers a plethora of directions from enterprise solution delivery and lean portfolio management to DevOps and cultivating a continuous learning culture It can be gulp-inducing especially without the ldquowhyrdquo Nobody likes change without a clear reason
Asking yourself ldquoWhy are we doing thisrdquo can lead you back into the light Whether itrsquos reducing time-to-market improving quality or enhancing customer retention a clear goal can disperse the dust kicked up by the horses of change It also begins the vital shift away from ldquothe whatrdquo towards ldquothe howrdquo Everyone can begin looking into ways of reaching the goal sooner by reducing friction
The Flow Frameworkregmdashcreated by Dr Mik Kersten in his bestselling book Project to Productmdashcan help you align your teams to outcomes and reduce friction Complementing SAFe large-scale organizations are leveraging the Flow Framework to optimize flow across their product value streams aligned to business outcomes Theyrsquore doing this via Flow Metrics which have been adopted by SAFe 51 as one of its core three metrics as part of its ldquocomprehensive scalable yet simple measurement modelrdquo
bull Outcomes Are your solutions meeting the needs of customers and business
bull Competency Are you proficient in practices delivering customer value
bull Flow How efficient are you at delivering value to customers
ldquoThe flow measurement
domain has been heavily influenced by the work of (Dr)
Mik Kersten His Flow Framework
provides five metrics that can be
used to measure different aspects of
flow As SAFe is a flow-based system
each of these metrics is directly applicable and are now incorporated
into the SAFe body of knowledgerdquo
Scaled Agile
8Change is Possible
The Flow Metrics help quantify your
SAFe investment at both a leadership
and team level
If SAFe is your map the Flow Metrics become your GPS
The Flow Metrics help quantify your SAFe investment at both a leadership and team level The metrics provide a simple high-level view of the impact Agile DevOps and other transformation initiatives are having on business results (like time-to-market revenue customer responsiveness and retention staff turnover and more)
The Flow Framework does not instruct you how to handle the complex coordination and orchestration of software development across multiple agile teams That is entirely the domain of SAFe and other methodologies like LeSS DA and Nexus The Flow Framework is a structured approach to value stream management (VSM) in software delivery organizations It identifies where work is flowing in your product value streams and where itrsquos slowing down so that you can decide how to address those bottlenecks
The simple concepts of the Flow Framework help you measure your SAFe practices mdash such as sprint goals feature hypothesis and your PI objectives mdash against business outcomes to ensure yoursquore actually improving over time If SAFe is the map Flow Metrics become the ultimate GPS to guide us in real-time with critical information on what to do and where to go constantly reflecting your current state and what you need to do to get better
9Change is Possible
Measure the impact of change not just activities
While Agile metrics (such as story points and t-shirt sizing) and DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics focus on team activities we know from systems thinking that we need to take a holistic approach as software delivery is a complex adaptive process Only with a macro view can we answer critical questions like
bull Are we capable of rapid response to market changes
bull With each PI are we delivering the right mix of work
bull Is time-to-market getting shorter
bull Is quality improving
bull Are our teams actively engaged or reverting to old ways of working (such as waterfall)
bull Do we have visibility into upstream and downstream bottlenecks
The Flow Metrics can help address some very real challenges and concerns that development teams feel such as frustration friction wasted time and effort and cognitive overload - all of which can lead to burnout Whether itrsquos suffering from overload frequent interruptions from new priorities the inability to finish work or being plagued by constant delays these metrics force us to dig into what is really negatively impacting the software delivery experience They also serve as a motivator for change
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
ldquoSustainable change after all depends not upon compliance with external mandates or blind adherence to regulation but rather upon the pursuit of the greater goodrdquoDouglas B Reeves
3Change is Possible
The bright side of this global
disruption revealed
things that we previously thought impossible in such short time frames
We learned we were resilient when tested
and capable of assembling and
executing in ways we didnrsquot think
were possible beforerdquo
Brian Solis Global Innovation Evangelist Salesforce
Change is Possible
A global travel enterprise shifting its operations onto a single cloud platform in just six months A leading UK-based financial services company dramatically reducing customer mortgage application times There have been some remarkable digital success stories since the 2020 pandemic Accomplishments that can encourage transformation leaders to move away from the ldquochange is hardrdquo refrain toward the courage-building rallying cry that ldquochange is possiblerdquo Transformation leaders can take heart from these feats These were not easy endeavors but the simplicity of their goals made them feasible
Amid the chaos and confusion of the sudden shift to a digital-first economy these companies found clarity by focusing on their customersrsquo most pressing problems They crystallized the all-important ldquowhyrdquo to ensure the whole organization was pulling as one Everyone could see the compelling reason to change Product development teams stopped being task-takers and became outcome producers
Whether yoursquore implementing the Scaled Agile Frameworkreg (SAFereg) or another methodology to improve now is the time to go back to basics by focusing on outcomes instead of just blindly adopting new practices and technology
If you feel like yoursquove lost the thread of what you and your team set out to do keep the faith Returning to why you are making the change and focusing on shared goals can bring everyone back together as a unified team And combined with the right set of outcome-based metrics you can start tracking and celebrating the impact of your changes as you head toward your aspirational future state - whatever that may be
4Change is Possible
Like any methodology it wonrsquot magically
fix your business problems
without a clear understanding of
what yoursquore trying to solve
SAFe everything you need in one place
SAFe is the most popular framework for scaling software development (as per the latest State of Agile report) for a reason Itrsquos a freely available knowledge base that serves as a one-stop-shop for modern lean-agile practices and DevOps And crucially it has elevated the conversation between technologists business teams and leadership
By standardizing terminology and making training so pervasive and accessible therersquos a good chance that people across the organization have a similar definition for words like ldquoproduct ownerrdquo or ldquoproduct managerrdquo People are getting exposed to design thinking and other customer-centric concepts so that ldquoDevOpsrdquo isnrsquot just some abstract portmanteau This shared language means that better and more constructive cross-organizational discussions around business agility and technical agility can take place
Like any methodology however it wonrsquot magically fix your business problems without a clear understanding of what yoursquore trying to solve
5Change is Possible
Beware the SAFe facade
A glowing Forbes article A jaw-dropping keynote A competitorrsquos beaming blog on their scaling agile success often a SAFe journey (or any investment in a methodology) starts with a fear of missing out With the best of intentions leadership signs off on the investment with little to no context hoping that business success will naturally follow
Typically this ends up with organizations adopting SAFe in name only mdash going through the training certifications and ceremonies mdash without actually changing any of their practices From the outset there is a dangerous gulf in understanding in what SAFe is and what it can and canrsquot do Leadership typically understands the gist but not the deeper mechanics like their teams do who have been through all the training and certification
This inevitability leads to leadership becoming restless and frustrated with ROI when business outcomes do not improve Teams meanwhile can become demotivated frustrated and fall out of love with their job
Leadership becomes restless
and frustrated Teams fall out of
love with their job
6Change is Possible
Three common reasons SAFe falls flat
Many well-intended but misguided SAFe efforts derail because organizations implement SAFe for SAFersquos sake There are a number of common mistakes that organizations make
1 Applying old mindsets to new rolesOrganizations can get caught in the trap of using SAFe terminology without really changing the way that they work Simply calling an existing team a ldquoScrumrdquo team without reimagining how they are organized wonrsquot improve outcomes
2 Forgetting Agile principlesAnother reason SAFe fails is because Agile principles are not internalized They may form a great release train with five Scrum teams but they donrsquot limit work-in-progress meaning everyone is overcapacity and yoursquore trying to cram way too much down the pipeline So instead of going faster and meeting outcomes sooner the opposite happens you clog the system Naturally they will blame the framework for failure but in reality they didnrsquot implement the core principles the framework is based on
3 Following the bookOrganizations that try to adopt every part of SAFe at once will also struggle The SAFe diagram is a simplified visual representation of a very complex system of systems - and even then it can still look overwhelming Development teams comprising 150+ people will try and fit every role and do every practice But its not meant to be followed word for word itrsquos a framework thatrsquos meant to kickstart a conversation Allow time to figure out what parts work for your specific organization and your specific problem(s)
7Change is Possible
Remember the why a lazer focus on outcomes
SAFe offers a plethora of directions from enterprise solution delivery and lean portfolio management to DevOps and cultivating a continuous learning culture It can be gulp-inducing especially without the ldquowhyrdquo Nobody likes change without a clear reason
Asking yourself ldquoWhy are we doing thisrdquo can lead you back into the light Whether itrsquos reducing time-to-market improving quality or enhancing customer retention a clear goal can disperse the dust kicked up by the horses of change It also begins the vital shift away from ldquothe whatrdquo towards ldquothe howrdquo Everyone can begin looking into ways of reaching the goal sooner by reducing friction
The Flow Frameworkregmdashcreated by Dr Mik Kersten in his bestselling book Project to Productmdashcan help you align your teams to outcomes and reduce friction Complementing SAFe large-scale organizations are leveraging the Flow Framework to optimize flow across their product value streams aligned to business outcomes Theyrsquore doing this via Flow Metrics which have been adopted by SAFe 51 as one of its core three metrics as part of its ldquocomprehensive scalable yet simple measurement modelrdquo
bull Outcomes Are your solutions meeting the needs of customers and business
bull Competency Are you proficient in practices delivering customer value
bull Flow How efficient are you at delivering value to customers
ldquoThe flow measurement
domain has been heavily influenced by the work of (Dr)
Mik Kersten His Flow Framework
provides five metrics that can be
used to measure different aspects of
flow As SAFe is a flow-based system
each of these metrics is directly applicable and are now incorporated
into the SAFe body of knowledgerdquo
Scaled Agile
8Change is Possible
The Flow Metrics help quantify your
SAFe investment at both a leadership
and team level
If SAFe is your map the Flow Metrics become your GPS
The Flow Metrics help quantify your SAFe investment at both a leadership and team level The metrics provide a simple high-level view of the impact Agile DevOps and other transformation initiatives are having on business results (like time-to-market revenue customer responsiveness and retention staff turnover and more)
The Flow Framework does not instruct you how to handle the complex coordination and orchestration of software development across multiple agile teams That is entirely the domain of SAFe and other methodologies like LeSS DA and Nexus The Flow Framework is a structured approach to value stream management (VSM) in software delivery organizations It identifies where work is flowing in your product value streams and where itrsquos slowing down so that you can decide how to address those bottlenecks
The simple concepts of the Flow Framework help you measure your SAFe practices mdash such as sprint goals feature hypothesis and your PI objectives mdash against business outcomes to ensure yoursquore actually improving over time If SAFe is the map Flow Metrics become the ultimate GPS to guide us in real-time with critical information on what to do and where to go constantly reflecting your current state and what you need to do to get better
9Change is Possible
Measure the impact of change not just activities
While Agile metrics (such as story points and t-shirt sizing) and DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics focus on team activities we know from systems thinking that we need to take a holistic approach as software delivery is a complex adaptive process Only with a macro view can we answer critical questions like
bull Are we capable of rapid response to market changes
bull With each PI are we delivering the right mix of work
bull Is time-to-market getting shorter
bull Is quality improving
bull Are our teams actively engaged or reverting to old ways of working (such as waterfall)
bull Do we have visibility into upstream and downstream bottlenecks
The Flow Metrics can help address some very real challenges and concerns that development teams feel such as frustration friction wasted time and effort and cognitive overload - all of which can lead to burnout Whether itrsquos suffering from overload frequent interruptions from new priorities the inability to finish work or being plagued by constant delays these metrics force us to dig into what is really negatively impacting the software delivery experience They also serve as a motivator for change
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
3Change is Possible
The bright side of this global
disruption revealed
things that we previously thought impossible in such short time frames
We learned we were resilient when tested
and capable of assembling and
executing in ways we didnrsquot think
were possible beforerdquo
Brian Solis Global Innovation Evangelist Salesforce
Change is Possible
A global travel enterprise shifting its operations onto a single cloud platform in just six months A leading UK-based financial services company dramatically reducing customer mortgage application times There have been some remarkable digital success stories since the 2020 pandemic Accomplishments that can encourage transformation leaders to move away from the ldquochange is hardrdquo refrain toward the courage-building rallying cry that ldquochange is possiblerdquo Transformation leaders can take heart from these feats These were not easy endeavors but the simplicity of their goals made them feasible
Amid the chaos and confusion of the sudden shift to a digital-first economy these companies found clarity by focusing on their customersrsquo most pressing problems They crystallized the all-important ldquowhyrdquo to ensure the whole organization was pulling as one Everyone could see the compelling reason to change Product development teams stopped being task-takers and became outcome producers
Whether yoursquore implementing the Scaled Agile Frameworkreg (SAFereg) or another methodology to improve now is the time to go back to basics by focusing on outcomes instead of just blindly adopting new practices and technology
If you feel like yoursquove lost the thread of what you and your team set out to do keep the faith Returning to why you are making the change and focusing on shared goals can bring everyone back together as a unified team And combined with the right set of outcome-based metrics you can start tracking and celebrating the impact of your changes as you head toward your aspirational future state - whatever that may be
4Change is Possible
Like any methodology it wonrsquot magically
fix your business problems
without a clear understanding of
what yoursquore trying to solve
SAFe everything you need in one place
SAFe is the most popular framework for scaling software development (as per the latest State of Agile report) for a reason Itrsquos a freely available knowledge base that serves as a one-stop-shop for modern lean-agile practices and DevOps And crucially it has elevated the conversation between technologists business teams and leadership
By standardizing terminology and making training so pervasive and accessible therersquos a good chance that people across the organization have a similar definition for words like ldquoproduct ownerrdquo or ldquoproduct managerrdquo People are getting exposed to design thinking and other customer-centric concepts so that ldquoDevOpsrdquo isnrsquot just some abstract portmanteau This shared language means that better and more constructive cross-organizational discussions around business agility and technical agility can take place
Like any methodology however it wonrsquot magically fix your business problems without a clear understanding of what yoursquore trying to solve
5Change is Possible
Beware the SAFe facade
A glowing Forbes article A jaw-dropping keynote A competitorrsquos beaming blog on their scaling agile success often a SAFe journey (or any investment in a methodology) starts with a fear of missing out With the best of intentions leadership signs off on the investment with little to no context hoping that business success will naturally follow
Typically this ends up with organizations adopting SAFe in name only mdash going through the training certifications and ceremonies mdash without actually changing any of their practices From the outset there is a dangerous gulf in understanding in what SAFe is and what it can and canrsquot do Leadership typically understands the gist but not the deeper mechanics like their teams do who have been through all the training and certification
This inevitability leads to leadership becoming restless and frustrated with ROI when business outcomes do not improve Teams meanwhile can become demotivated frustrated and fall out of love with their job
Leadership becomes restless
and frustrated Teams fall out of
love with their job
6Change is Possible
Three common reasons SAFe falls flat
Many well-intended but misguided SAFe efforts derail because organizations implement SAFe for SAFersquos sake There are a number of common mistakes that organizations make
1 Applying old mindsets to new rolesOrganizations can get caught in the trap of using SAFe terminology without really changing the way that they work Simply calling an existing team a ldquoScrumrdquo team without reimagining how they are organized wonrsquot improve outcomes
2 Forgetting Agile principlesAnother reason SAFe fails is because Agile principles are not internalized They may form a great release train with five Scrum teams but they donrsquot limit work-in-progress meaning everyone is overcapacity and yoursquore trying to cram way too much down the pipeline So instead of going faster and meeting outcomes sooner the opposite happens you clog the system Naturally they will blame the framework for failure but in reality they didnrsquot implement the core principles the framework is based on
3 Following the bookOrganizations that try to adopt every part of SAFe at once will also struggle The SAFe diagram is a simplified visual representation of a very complex system of systems - and even then it can still look overwhelming Development teams comprising 150+ people will try and fit every role and do every practice But its not meant to be followed word for word itrsquos a framework thatrsquos meant to kickstart a conversation Allow time to figure out what parts work for your specific organization and your specific problem(s)
7Change is Possible
Remember the why a lazer focus on outcomes
SAFe offers a plethora of directions from enterprise solution delivery and lean portfolio management to DevOps and cultivating a continuous learning culture It can be gulp-inducing especially without the ldquowhyrdquo Nobody likes change without a clear reason
Asking yourself ldquoWhy are we doing thisrdquo can lead you back into the light Whether itrsquos reducing time-to-market improving quality or enhancing customer retention a clear goal can disperse the dust kicked up by the horses of change It also begins the vital shift away from ldquothe whatrdquo towards ldquothe howrdquo Everyone can begin looking into ways of reaching the goal sooner by reducing friction
The Flow Frameworkregmdashcreated by Dr Mik Kersten in his bestselling book Project to Productmdashcan help you align your teams to outcomes and reduce friction Complementing SAFe large-scale organizations are leveraging the Flow Framework to optimize flow across their product value streams aligned to business outcomes Theyrsquore doing this via Flow Metrics which have been adopted by SAFe 51 as one of its core three metrics as part of its ldquocomprehensive scalable yet simple measurement modelrdquo
bull Outcomes Are your solutions meeting the needs of customers and business
bull Competency Are you proficient in practices delivering customer value
bull Flow How efficient are you at delivering value to customers
ldquoThe flow measurement
domain has been heavily influenced by the work of (Dr)
Mik Kersten His Flow Framework
provides five metrics that can be
used to measure different aspects of
flow As SAFe is a flow-based system
each of these metrics is directly applicable and are now incorporated
into the SAFe body of knowledgerdquo
Scaled Agile
8Change is Possible
The Flow Metrics help quantify your
SAFe investment at both a leadership
and team level
If SAFe is your map the Flow Metrics become your GPS
The Flow Metrics help quantify your SAFe investment at both a leadership and team level The metrics provide a simple high-level view of the impact Agile DevOps and other transformation initiatives are having on business results (like time-to-market revenue customer responsiveness and retention staff turnover and more)
The Flow Framework does not instruct you how to handle the complex coordination and orchestration of software development across multiple agile teams That is entirely the domain of SAFe and other methodologies like LeSS DA and Nexus The Flow Framework is a structured approach to value stream management (VSM) in software delivery organizations It identifies where work is flowing in your product value streams and where itrsquos slowing down so that you can decide how to address those bottlenecks
The simple concepts of the Flow Framework help you measure your SAFe practices mdash such as sprint goals feature hypothesis and your PI objectives mdash against business outcomes to ensure yoursquore actually improving over time If SAFe is the map Flow Metrics become the ultimate GPS to guide us in real-time with critical information on what to do and where to go constantly reflecting your current state and what you need to do to get better
9Change is Possible
Measure the impact of change not just activities
While Agile metrics (such as story points and t-shirt sizing) and DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics focus on team activities we know from systems thinking that we need to take a holistic approach as software delivery is a complex adaptive process Only with a macro view can we answer critical questions like
bull Are we capable of rapid response to market changes
bull With each PI are we delivering the right mix of work
bull Is time-to-market getting shorter
bull Is quality improving
bull Are our teams actively engaged or reverting to old ways of working (such as waterfall)
bull Do we have visibility into upstream and downstream bottlenecks
The Flow Metrics can help address some very real challenges and concerns that development teams feel such as frustration friction wasted time and effort and cognitive overload - all of which can lead to burnout Whether itrsquos suffering from overload frequent interruptions from new priorities the inability to finish work or being plagued by constant delays these metrics force us to dig into what is really negatively impacting the software delivery experience They also serve as a motivator for change
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
4Change is Possible
Like any methodology it wonrsquot magically
fix your business problems
without a clear understanding of
what yoursquore trying to solve
SAFe everything you need in one place
SAFe is the most popular framework for scaling software development (as per the latest State of Agile report) for a reason Itrsquos a freely available knowledge base that serves as a one-stop-shop for modern lean-agile practices and DevOps And crucially it has elevated the conversation between technologists business teams and leadership
By standardizing terminology and making training so pervasive and accessible therersquos a good chance that people across the organization have a similar definition for words like ldquoproduct ownerrdquo or ldquoproduct managerrdquo People are getting exposed to design thinking and other customer-centric concepts so that ldquoDevOpsrdquo isnrsquot just some abstract portmanteau This shared language means that better and more constructive cross-organizational discussions around business agility and technical agility can take place
Like any methodology however it wonrsquot magically fix your business problems without a clear understanding of what yoursquore trying to solve
5Change is Possible
Beware the SAFe facade
A glowing Forbes article A jaw-dropping keynote A competitorrsquos beaming blog on their scaling agile success often a SAFe journey (or any investment in a methodology) starts with a fear of missing out With the best of intentions leadership signs off on the investment with little to no context hoping that business success will naturally follow
Typically this ends up with organizations adopting SAFe in name only mdash going through the training certifications and ceremonies mdash without actually changing any of their practices From the outset there is a dangerous gulf in understanding in what SAFe is and what it can and canrsquot do Leadership typically understands the gist but not the deeper mechanics like their teams do who have been through all the training and certification
This inevitability leads to leadership becoming restless and frustrated with ROI when business outcomes do not improve Teams meanwhile can become demotivated frustrated and fall out of love with their job
Leadership becomes restless
and frustrated Teams fall out of
love with their job
6Change is Possible
Three common reasons SAFe falls flat
Many well-intended but misguided SAFe efforts derail because organizations implement SAFe for SAFersquos sake There are a number of common mistakes that organizations make
1 Applying old mindsets to new rolesOrganizations can get caught in the trap of using SAFe terminology without really changing the way that they work Simply calling an existing team a ldquoScrumrdquo team without reimagining how they are organized wonrsquot improve outcomes
2 Forgetting Agile principlesAnother reason SAFe fails is because Agile principles are not internalized They may form a great release train with five Scrum teams but they donrsquot limit work-in-progress meaning everyone is overcapacity and yoursquore trying to cram way too much down the pipeline So instead of going faster and meeting outcomes sooner the opposite happens you clog the system Naturally they will blame the framework for failure but in reality they didnrsquot implement the core principles the framework is based on
3 Following the bookOrganizations that try to adopt every part of SAFe at once will also struggle The SAFe diagram is a simplified visual representation of a very complex system of systems - and even then it can still look overwhelming Development teams comprising 150+ people will try and fit every role and do every practice But its not meant to be followed word for word itrsquos a framework thatrsquos meant to kickstart a conversation Allow time to figure out what parts work for your specific organization and your specific problem(s)
7Change is Possible
Remember the why a lazer focus on outcomes
SAFe offers a plethora of directions from enterprise solution delivery and lean portfolio management to DevOps and cultivating a continuous learning culture It can be gulp-inducing especially without the ldquowhyrdquo Nobody likes change without a clear reason
Asking yourself ldquoWhy are we doing thisrdquo can lead you back into the light Whether itrsquos reducing time-to-market improving quality or enhancing customer retention a clear goal can disperse the dust kicked up by the horses of change It also begins the vital shift away from ldquothe whatrdquo towards ldquothe howrdquo Everyone can begin looking into ways of reaching the goal sooner by reducing friction
The Flow Frameworkregmdashcreated by Dr Mik Kersten in his bestselling book Project to Productmdashcan help you align your teams to outcomes and reduce friction Complementing SAFe large-scale organizations are leveraging the Flow Framework to optimize flow across their product value streams aligned to business outcomes Theyrsquore doing this via Flow Metrics which have been adopted by SAFe 51 as one of its core three metrics as part of its ldquocomprehensive scalable yet simple measurement modelrdquo
bull Outcomes Are your solutions meeting the needs of customers and business
bull Competency Are you proficient in practices delivering customer value
bull Flow How efficient are you at delivering value to customers
ldquoThe flow measurement
domain has been heavily influenced by the work of (Dr)
Mik Kersten His Flow Framework
provides five metrics that can be
used to measure different aspects of
flow As SAFe is a flow-based system
each of these metrics is directly applicable and are now incorporated
into the SAFe body of knowledgerdquo
Scaled Agile
8Change is Possible
The Flow Metrics help quantify your
SAFe investment at both a leadership
and team level
If SAFe is your map the Flow Metrics become your GPS
The Flow Metrics help quantify your SAFe investment at both a leadership and team level The metrics provide a simple high-level view of the impact Agile DevOps and other transformation initiatives are having on business results (like time-to-market revenue customer responsiveness and retention staff turnover and more)
The Flow Framework does not instruct you how to handle the complex coordination and orchestration of software development across multiple agile teams That is entirely the domain of SAFe and other methodologies like LeSS DA and Nexus The Flow Framework is a structured approach to value stream management (VSM) in software delivery organizations It identifies where work is flowing in your product value streams and where itrsquos slowing down so that you can decide how to address those bottlenecks
The simple concepts of the Flow Framework help you measure your SAFe practices mdash such as sprint goals feature hypothesis and your PI objectives mdash against business outcomes to ensure yoursquore actually improving over time If SAFe is the map Flow Metrics become the ultimate GPS to guide us in real-time with critical information on what to do and where to go constantly reflecting your current state and what you need to do to get better
9Change is Possible
Measure the impact of change not just activities
While Agile metrics (such as story points and t-shirt sizing) and DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics focus on team activities we know from systems thinking that we need to take a holistic approach as software delivery is a complex adaptive process Only with a macro view can we answer critical questions like
bull Are we capable of rapid response to market changes
bull With each PI are we delivering the right mix of work
bull Is time-to-market getting shorter
bull Is quality improving
bull Are our teams actively engaged or reverting to old ways of working (such as waterfall)
bull Do we have visibility into upstream and downstream bottlenecks
The Flow Metrics can help address some very real challenges and concerns that development teams feel such as frustration friction wasted time and effort and cognitive overload - all of which can lead to burnout Whether itrsquos suffering from overload frequent interruptions from new priorities the inability to finish work or being plagued by constant delays these metrics force us to dig into what is really negatively impacting the software delivery experience They also serve as a motivator for change
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
5Change is Possible
Beware the SAFe facade
A glowing Forbes article A jaw-dropping keynote A competitorrsquos beaming blog on their scaling agile success often a SAFe journey (or any investment in a methodology) starts with a fear of missing out With the best of intentions leadership signs off on the investment with little to no context hoping that business success will naturally follow
Typically this ends up with organizations adopting SAFe in name only mdash going through the training certifications and ceremonies mdash without actually changing any of their practices From the outset there is a dangerous gulf in understanding in what SAFe is and what it can and canrsquot do Leadership typically understands the gist but not the deeper mechanics like their teams do who have been through all the training and certification
This inevitability leads to leadership becoming restless and frustrated with ROI when business outcomes do not improve Teams meanwhile can become demotivated frustrated and fall out of love with their job
Leadership becomes restless
and frustrated Teams fall out of
love with their job
6Change is Possible
Three common reasons SAFe falls flat
Many well-intended but misguided SAFe efforts derail because organizations implement SAFe for SAFersquos sake There are a number of common mistakes that organizations make
1 Applying old mindsets to new rolesOrganizations can get caught in the trap of using SAFe terminology without really changing the way that they work Simply calling an existing team a ldquoScrumrdquo team without reimagining how they are organized wonrsquot improve outcomes
2 Forgetting Agile principlesAnother reason SAFe fails is because Agile principles are not internalized They may form a great release train with five Scrum teams but they donrsquot limit work-in-progress meaning everyone is overcapacity and yoursquore trying to cram way too much down the pipeline So instead of going faster and meeting outcomes sooner the opposite happens you clog the system Naturally they will blame the framework for failure but in reality they didnrsquot implement the core principles the framework is based on
3 Following the bookOrganizations that try to adopt every part of SAFe at once will also struggle The SAFe diagram is a simplified visual representation of a very complex system of systems - and even then it can still look overwhelming Development teams comprising 150+ people will try and fit every role and do every practice But its not meant to be followed word for word itrsquos a framework thatrsquos meant to kickstart a conversation Allow time to figure out what parts work for your specific organization and your specific problem(s)
7Change is Possible
Remember the why a lazer focus on outcomes
SAFe offers a plethora of directions from enterprise solution delivery and lean portfolio management to DevOps and cultivating a continuous learning culture It can be gulp-inducing especially without the ldquowhyrdquo Nobody likes change without a clear reason
Asking yourself ldquoWhy are we doing thisrdquo can lead you back into the light Whether itrsquos reducing time-to-market improving quality or enhancing customer retention a clear goal can disperse the dust kicked up by the horses of change It also begins the vital shift away from ldquothe whatrdquo towards ldquothe howrdquo Everyone can begin looking into ways of reaching the goal sooner by reducing friction
The Flow Frameworkregmdashcreated by Dr Mik Kersten in his bestselling book Project to Productmdashcan help you align your teams to outcomes and reduce friction Complementing SAFe large-scale organizations are leveraging the Flow Framework to optimize flow across their product value streams aligned to business outcomes Theyrsquore doing this via Flow Metrics which have been adopted by SAFe 51 as one of its core three metrics as part of its ldquocomprehensive scalable yet simple measurement modelrdquo
bull Outcomes Are your solutions meeting the needs of customers and business
bull Competency Are you proficient in practices delivering customer value
bull Flow How efficient are you at delivering value to customers
ldquoThe flow measurement
domain has been heavily influenced by the work of (Dr)
Mik Kersten His Flow Framework
provides five metrics that can be
used to measure different aspects of
flow As SAFe is a flow-based system
each of these metrics is directly applicable and are now incorporated
into the SAFe body of knowledgerdquo
Scaled Agile
8Change is Possible
The Flow Metrics help quantify your
SAFe investment at both a leadership
and team level
If SAFe is your map the Flow Metrics become your GPS
The Flow Metrics help quantify your SAFe investment at both a leadership and team level The metrics provide a simple high-level view of the impact Agile DevOps and other transformation initiatives are having on business results (like time-to-market revenue customer responsiveness and retention staff turnover and more)
The Flow Framework does not instruct you how to handle the complex coordination and orchestration of software development across multiple agile teams That is entirely the domain of SAFe and other methodologies like LeSS DA and Nexus The Flow Framework is a structured approach to value stream management (VSM) in software delivery organizations It identifies where work is flowing in your product value streams and where itrsquos slowing down so that you can decide how to address those bottlenecks
The simple concepts of the Flow Framework help you measure your SAFe practices mdash such as sprint goals feature hypothesis and your PI objectives mdash against business outcomes to ensure yoursquore actually improving over time If SAFe is the map Flow Metrics become the ultimate GPS to guide us in real-time with critical information on what to do and where to go constantly reflecting your current state and what you need to do to get better
9Change is Possible
Measure the impact of change not just activities
While Agile metrics (such as story points and t-shirt sizing) and DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics focus on team activities we know from systems thinking that we need to take a holistic approach as software delivery is a complex adaptive process Only with a macro view can we answer critical questions like
bull Are we capable of rapid response to market changes
bull With each PI are we delivering the right mix of work
bull Is time-to-market getting shorter
bull Is quality improving
bull Are our teams actively engaged or reverting to old ways of working (such as waterfall)
bull Do we have visibility into upstream and downstream bottlenecks
The Flow Metrics can help address some very real challenges and concerns that development teams feel such as frustration friction wasted time and effort and cognitive overload - all of which can lead to burnout Whether itrsquos suffering from overload frequent interruptions from new priorities the inability to finish work or being plagued by constant delays these metrics force us to dig into what is really negatively impacting the software delivery experience They also serve as a motivator for change
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
6Change is Possible
Three common reasons SAFe falls flat
Many well-intended but misguided SAFe efforts derail because organizations implement SAFe for SAFersquos sake There are a number of common mistakes that organizations make
1 Applying old mindsets to new rolesOrganizations can get caught in the trap of using SAFe terminology without really changing the way that they work Simply calling an existing team a ldquoScrumrdquo team without reimagining how they are organized wonrsquot improve outcomes
2 Forgetting Agile principlesAnother reason SAFe fails is because Agile principles are not internalized They may form a great release train with five Scrum teams but they donrsquot limit work-in-progress meaning everyone is overcapacity and yoursquore trying to cram way too much down the pipeline So instead of going faster and meeting outcomes sooner the opposite happens you clog the system Naturally they will blame the framework for failure but in reality they didnrsquot implement the core principles the framework is based on
3 Following the bookOrganizations that try to adopt every part of SAFe at once will also struggle The SAFe diagram is a simplified visual representation of a very complex system of systems - and even then it can still look overwhelming Development teams comprising 150+ people will try and fit every role and do every practice But its not meant to be followed word for word itrsquos a framework thatrsquos meant to kickstart a conversation Allow time to figure out what parts work for your specific organization and your specific problem(s)
7Change is Possible
Remember the why a lazer focus on outcomes
SAFe offers a plethora of directions from enterprise solution delivery and lean portfolio management to DevOps and cultivating a continuous learning culture It can be gulp-inducing especially without the ldquowhyrdquo Nobody likes change without a clear reason
Asking yourself ldquoWhy are we doing thisrdquo can lead you back into the light Whether itrsquos reducing time-to-market improving quality or enhancing customer retention a clear goal can disperse the dust kicked up by the horses of change It also begins the vital shift away from ldquothe whatrdquo towards ldquothe howrdquo Everyone can begin looking into ways of reaching the goal sooner by reducing friction
The Flow Frameworkregmdashcreated by Dr Mik Kersten in his bestselling book Project to Productmdashcan help you align your teams to outcomes and reduce friction Complementing SAFe large-scale organizations are leveraging the Flow Framework to optimize flow across their product value streams aligned to business outcomes Theyrsquore doing this via Flow Metrics which have been adopted by SAFe 51 as one of its core three metrics as part of its ldquocomprehensive scalable yet simple measurement modelrdquo
bull Outcomes Are your solutions meeting the needs of customers and business
bull Competency Are you proficient in practices delivering customer value
bull Flow How efficient are you at delivering value to customers
ldquoThe flow measurement
domain has been heavily influenced by the work of (Dr)
Mik Kersten His Flow Framework
provides five metrics that can be
used to measure different aspects of
flow As SAFe is a flow-based system
each of these metrics is directly applicable and are now incorporated
into the SAFe body of knowledgerdquo
Scaled Agile
8Change is Possible
The Flow Metrics help quantify your
SAFe investment at both a leadership
and team level
If SAFe is your map the Flow Metrics become your GPS
The Flow Metrics help quantify your SAFe investment at both a leadership and team level The metrics provide a simple high-level view of the impact Agile DevOps and other transformation initiatives are having on business results (like time-to-market revenue customer responsiveness and retention staff turnover and more)
The Flow Framework does not instruct you how to handle the complex coordination and orchestration of software development across multiple agile teams That is entirely the domain of SAFe and other methodologies like LeSS DA and Nexus The Flow Framework is a structured approach to value stream management (VSM) in software delivery organizations It identifies where work is flowing in your product value streams and where itrsquos slowing down so that you can decide how to address those bottlenecks
The simple concepts of the Flow Framework help you measure your SAFe practices mdash such as sprint goals feature hypothesis and your PI objectives mdash against business outcomes to ensure yoursquore actually improving over time If SAFe is the map Flow Metrics become the ultimate GPS to guide us in real-time with critical information on what to do and where to go constantly reflecting your current state and what you need to do to get better
9Change is Possible
Measure the impact of change not just activities
While Agile metrics (such as story points and t-shirt sizing) and DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics focus on team activities we know from systems thinking that we need to take a holistic approach as software delivery is a complex adaptive process Only with a macro view can we answer critical questions like
bull Are we capable of rapid response to market changes
bull With each PI are we delivering the right mix of work
bull Is time-to-market getting shorter
bull Is quality improving
bull Are our teams actively engaged or reverting to old ways of working (such as waterfall)
bull Do we have visibility into upstream and downstream bottlenecks
The Flow Metrics can help address some very real challenges and concerns that development teams feel such as frustration friction wasted time and effort and cognitive overload - all of which can lead to burnout Whether itrsquos suffering from overload frequent interruptions from new priorities the inability to finish work or being plagued by constant delays these metrics force us to dig into what is really negatively impacting the software delivery experience They also serve as a motivator for change
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
7Change is Possible
Remember the why a lazer focus on outcomes
SAFe offers a plethora of directions from enterprise solution delivery and lean portfolio management to DevOps and cultivating a continuous learning culture It can be gulp-inducing especially without the ldquowhyrdquo Nobody likes change without a clear reason
Asking yourself ldquoWhy are we doing thisrdquo can lead you back into the light Whether itrsquos reducing time-to-market improving quality or enhancing customer retention a clear goal can disperse the dust kicked up by the horses of change It also begins the vital shift away from ldquothe whatrdquo towards ldquothe howrdquo Everyone can begin looking into ways of reaching the goal sooner by reducing friction
The Flow Frameworkregmdashcreated by Dr Mik Kersten in his bestselling book Project to Productmdashcan help you align your teams to outcomes and reduce friction Complementing SAFe large-scale organizations are leveraging the Flow Framework to optimize flow across their product value streams aligned to business outcomes Theyrsquore doing this via Flow Metrics which have been adopted by SAFe 51 as one of its core three metrics as part of its ldquocomprehensive scalable yet simple measurement modelrdquo
bull Outcomes Are your solutions meeting the needs of customers and business
bull Competency Are you proficient in practices delivering customer value
bull Flow How efficient are you at delivering value to customers
ldquoThe flow measurement
domain has been heavily influenced by the work of (Dr)
Mik Kersten His Flow Framework
provides five metrics that can be
used to measure different aspects of
flow As SAFe is a flow-based system
each of these metrics is directly applicable and are now incorporated
into the SAFe body of knowledgerdquo
Scaled Agile
8Change is Possible
The Flow Metrics help quantify your
SAFe investment at both a leadership
and team level
If SAFe is your map the Flow Metrics become your GPS
The Flow Metrics help quantify your SAFe investment at both a leadership and team level The metrics provide a simple high-level view of the impact Agile DevOps and other transformation initiatives are having on business results (like time-to-market revenue customer responsiveness and retention staff turnover and more)
The Flow Framework does not instruct you how to handle the complex coordination and orchestration of software development across multiple agile teams That is entirely the domain of SAFe and other methodologies like LeSS DA and Nexus The Flow Framework is a structured approach to value stream management (VSM) in software delivery organizations It identifies where work is flowing in your product value streams and where itrsquos slowing down so that you can decide how to address those bottlenecks
The simple concepts of the Flow Framework help you measure your SAFe practices mdash such as sprint goals feature hypothesis and your PI objectives mdash against business outcomes to ensure yoursquore actually improving over time If SAFe is the map Flow Metrics become the ultimate GPS to guide us in real-time with critical information on what to do and where to go constantly reflecting your current state and what you need to do to get better
9Change is Possible
Measure the impact of change not just activities
While Agile metrics (such as story points and t-shirt sizing) and DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics focus on team activities we know from systems thinking that we need to take a holistic approach as software delivery is a complex adaptive process Only with a macro view can we answer critical questions like
bull Are we capable of rapid response to market changes
bull With each PI are we delivering the right mix of work
bull Is time-to-market getting shorter
bull Is quality improving
bull Are our teams actively engaged or reverting to old ways of working (such as waterfall)
bull Do we have visibility into upstream and downstream bottlenecks
The Flow Metrics can help address some very real challenges and concerns that development teams feel such as frustration friction wasted time and effort and cognitive overload - all of which can lead to burnout Whether itrsquos suffering from overload frequent interruptions from new priorities the inability to finish work or being plagued by constant delays these metrics force us to dig into what is really negatively impacting the software delivery experience They also serve as a motivator for change
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
8Change is Possible
The Flow Metrics help quantify your
SAFe investment at both a leadership
and team level
If SAFe is your map the Flow Metrics become your GPS
The Flow Metrics help quantify your SAFe investment at both a leadership and team level The metrics provide a simple high-level view of the impact Agile DevOps and other transformation initiatives are having on business results (like time-to-market revenue customer responsiveness and retention staff turnover and more)
The Flow Framework does not instruct you how to handle the complex coordination and orchestration of software development across multiple agile teams That is entirely the domain of SAFe and other methodologies like LeSS DA and Nexus The Flow Framework is a structured approach to value stream management (VSM) in software delivery organizations It identifies where work is flowing in your product value streams and where itrsquos slowing down so that you can decide how to address those bottlenecks
The simple concepts of the Flow Framework help you measure your SAFe practices mdash such as sprint goals feature hypothesis and your PI objectives mdash against business outcomes to ensure yoursquore actually improving over time If SAFe is the map Flow Metrics become the ultimate GPS to guide us in real-time with critical information on what to do and where to go constantly reflecting your current state and what you need to do to get better
9Change is Possible
Measure the impact of change not just activities
While Agile metrics (such as story points and t-shirt sizing) and DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics focus on team activities we know from systems thinking that we need to take a holistic approach as software delivery is a complex adaptive process Only with a macro view can we answer critical questions like
bull Are we capable of rapid response to market changes
bull With each PI are we delivering the right mix of work
bull Is time-to-market getting shorter
bull Is quality improving
bull Are our teams actively engaged or reverting to old ways of working (such as waterfall)
bull Do we have visibility into upstream and downstream bottlenecks
The Flow Metrics can help address some very real challenges and concerns that development teams feel such as frustration friction wasted time and effort and cognitive overload - all of which can lead to burnout Whether itrsquos suffering from overload frequent interruptions from new priorities the inability to finish work or being plagued by constant delays these metrics force us to dig into what is really negatively impacting the software delivery experience They also serve as a motivator for change
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
9Change is Possible
Measure the impact of change not just activities
While Agile metrics (such as story points and t-shirt sizing) and DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics focus on team activities we know from systems thinking that we need to take a holistic approach as software delivery is a complex adaptive process Only with a macro view can we answer critical questions like
bull Are we capable of rapid response to market changes
bull With each PI are we delivering the right mix of work
bull Is time-to-market getting shorter
bull Is quality improving
bull Are our teams actively engaged or reverting to old ways of working (such as waterfall)
bull Do we have visibility into upstream and downstream bottlenecks
The Flow Metrics can help address some very real challenges and concerns that development teams feel such as frustration friction wasted time and effort and cognitive overload - all of which can lead to burnout Whether itrsquos suffering from overload frequent interruptions from new priorities the inability to finish work or being plagued by constant delays these metrics force us to dig into what is really negatively impacting the software delivery experience They also serve as a motivator for change
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
10Change is Possible
Flow Velocity ndash How much customer value are we delivering over time
Often we accept delays as ldquobusiness as usualrdquo Prior to flow thinking we would watch the workers (are they busy) rather than the work (is it progressing) That often caused us to lose sight of the fact that despite teams being very busy work is very often stuck and not moving This metric helps us work smarter not harder by visualizing and removing these delays to reduce our Flow Time increase our Flow Velocity and feel more productive
Flow Time ndash Is time-to-market getting shorter to outpace the competition and shorten feedback loops
Often we make a lot of changes in a transformation ldquoAdopt test-firstbehavior-driven development Automate testing Adopt a CICD pipeline Add more people to the team Create cross-functional teamsrdquo Always with the assumption that these changes will naturally lead to quicker delivery However it is critical to use data to confirm that the changes actually are causing a decrease in time because often they can in fact be increasing the time it takes to deliver to the customer
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
11Change is Possible
Flow Load ndash Are we balancing demand vs capacity to ensure future productivity
This is probably the most counter-intuitive yet the most powerful Flow Metric We know we all feel overloaded and busy Like there is always more work than time to complete This is a metric that we certainly feel every day But it often comes as a surprise that by taking on more and more work we are actually slowing down our delivery Starting work sooner does not cause it to complete sooner Flow Load is an incredibly powerful leading indicator to help teams feel less overloaded and improve delivery
In addition to these Flow Metrics there is also Flow Distribution which looks at the trade-offs between value creation and value protection work which helps communicate tradeoffs and priorities to ensure a sustainable pace of delivery This visibility allows us to be proactive and intentional in how we prioritize competing efforts with limited capacity rather than reacting firefighting heroics and potentially burning out our best people It also helps us to dramatically improve PI planning to gain better control of our value delivery by proactively examining work distribution and avoiding ldquosurpriserdquo risk debt and defects
Many of these metrics can find early improvements on a team-by-team basis Giving teams visibility into their Flow Efficiency Flow Load and
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
12Change is Possible
A change-driven roadmap
In the modern climate the multi-year product roadmaps of yesteryear can often seem at odds with the frequency of change Conversely change itself can actually help you develop your roadmap While roadmaps are helpful directionally we must be cognizant of how adaptable they are and how quickly they can change As President Eisenhower once said ldquoPlans are worthless but planning is everythingrdquo With strategy clearly defined across business and technology teams we harness OKRs to align top-down and bottom-up to pivot quickly By measuring the flow of work to outcomes and deploying rapid feedback loops to track the impact of changes we can correct course as we go These discoveries can help you build a more accurate roadmap that correlates decision making around technical agility with business results
Organizations can balance planning vs adaptability by looking at roadmaps in a lean startup kind of way Directionally they have a plan for how they want to grow in their segment on the market but they
Plans are worthless but
planning is everything
Dwight D Eisenhower
Flow Distribution will enable them to drive immediate improvement in those areas The insights will tap into common challenges organizations face such as too much WIP long wait times and context switching A leaderrsquos key job through this process is to give the teams the visibility they need to see how their activities improve these metrics and outcomes and then to support them as they ask for help in areas outside of their immediate control
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
13Change is Possible
Bridging the gulf
SAFe brings in a wealth of knowledge training and a shared language enabling collaboration That coupled with the ability to identify opportunities and measure progress via Flow Metrics creates a powerful combination that can help any organization rapidly realize lasting benefits from their transformation efforts
Leadership can focus on establishing clear goals and removing obstacles equipped with the feedback that Flow Metrics provides Meanwhile teams can be empowered to adapt SAFe practices to their context in ways that work best for their team and organization
The addition of Flow Metrics to the SAFe framework provides an important guardrail against the pitfalls many organizations face when adopting SAFe It is our hope that as a collective software development industry we can learn from our past take corrective action and find better ways to transform our businesses to meet the demands of the marketplace
Bit by bit step by step this focus on continuous improvement will begin to deliver on the promise of SAFe for your organization - and who knows This could lead you and your teams to be the next success story at a packed tech conferencebull
continually work toward that goal by seeing and executing work in terms of a hypothesis By evaluating each production release as a small experiment they can validate whether they are working on the right things to get them closer to their longer term goal or perhaps after some amount of experimentation leadership may reevaluate the long-term goal itself This approach will help organizations ensure theyrsquore maximizing their limited capacity
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery
copy 2007-2021 Tasktop Technologies Incorporated All rights reserved Tasktop and the ldquoLess is Morerdquo logo (lt=gt) are registered trademarks of Tasktop Technologies Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners TSeB-826
Discover More
Webinar Align Inform Inspire Measuring Business Agility and SAFe with Flow Metrics
Keynote Project to Product From Flow Metrics to SAFe
WP The Age of Value Stream Management (VSM) Beyond Agile and DevOps
E-book Flow Metrics A Business Leaders Guide to Measuring What Matters in Software Delivery