A couple of months ago, we released a significant update to our guidance on SAFe Metrics. Central to this are the three measurement domains of Outcomes, Flow, and Competency, which together provide a simple, comprehensive, and scalable approach to measuring what matters for Business Agility, as the figure illustrates.

Business Agility provides the enterprise with the ability to quickly respond to market changes and emergent opportunities. The speed of this response is determined by how quickly value flows through the Business Agility Value Stream (shown above). The organizations that achieve efficiency in delivering this value have a significant advantage over their competitors.

The Flow Framework created by Mik Kersten provides five flow metrics that you can apply to measure the different aspects of this flow and uncover opportunities for improvement. As SAFe is a flow-based system, each of these metrics is directly applicable, and as such, we have integrated them into SAFe. In addition, SAFe defines Flow Predictability to measure how Teams, ARTs, and Solution Trains are delivering against their planned objectives.

In their recent blog, Patrick Anderson from TaskTop describes each of these flow metrics and their critical role in identifying ‘…where work is flowing in your product value streams and where it’s slowing down so that you can decide how to address those bottlenecks.’ Patrick discusses how these metrics can help ‘Reignite Your SAFe® Journey’ and build on the progress you have made so far. Definitely a recommended read.

Additionally, over the next few months, there are some great opportunities to hear more on this topic and get involved in the discussion:

I will be continuing this conversation when I join Tasktop Sr. Value Stream Architect, Lee Reid, on Tuesday, August 17th at 9am and 2pm ET for a webinar on how to use Flow Metrics to measure your SAFe practices against business outcomes. You can register here.

In addition, Mik will be speaking at the SAFe Summit 2021 (Sept. 27 – Oct. 1) on the topic of Flow Metrics: From Micromanagement Misery to Business Agility, where he will share the past two years of lessons learned from large-scale deployments of SAFe® that leveraged Flow Metrics to embrace Business Agility

I’ll also be talking at the SAFe Summit, Measure What Matters for Business Agility: Outcomes, Flow and Competency, where I will present this new, comprehensive measurement model in detail and describe how you can apply it successfully at every level of your SAFe Enterprise.

I hope you can join us for some or all of this.

Stay SAFe!

— Andy