When it comes to Value Stream Management (VSM) it is all about the process data and the related flow or value stream metrics. In VSM the process data and related metrics combine to reveal how efficiently business value flows to your customers which could include other areas of the business. This removes a pesky translation layer between the workers (sometimes with rose colored glasses) and leaders (blissfully ignorant) that are needing to make timely data driven decisions in order to help steer the business toward greater success increasing competitive edge.
Whiles this may seem like rocket science, VSM and Flow Metrics can be learned with qualified guidance, proper cultural adjustments and appropriate tooling. Most tools in this category enable real time data mining eliminating the delays and manual effort to produce reports as well as removes the barriers for leaders. Here well baked dashboards can tell the complete story of how work is flowing revealing opportunities for teams to realize and explore improvements.
There are many interesting metrics in agile, DevOps (DORA), and VSM (Flow). Care has been taken to craft these metrics to avoid overlap or contrast, so they are deemed relevant and compatible depending on team, division or function. We will compare and contrast in another article and will focus only on the few that are directly related to the art of Value Stream Management.
| Flow Metric | Description | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Flow Distribution | Reveals the proportion of work item types (Features, Defects, Risks & Debt) in the system. | The proper balance of effort against work item types each sprint helps maintain quality but also allows capacity to deal with other areas that would be ruinous of ignored too long. |
| Flow Velocity | Number of completed work items over a time period. | Reveals team maturity and stability regarding amount of work completed. Could reveal impactful events harming team performance. |
| Flow Time | The elapsed time from start to finish for individual work items. | Ensures team effort is focused on the work that actually adds values. |
| Flow Load | Represents the number of work items currently in process (active or waiting). | Reveals the sweet spot for the team through noise reduction caused by too much work in progress when enables faster delivery. |
| Flow Efficiency | Reveals the ratio of total time spent adding value vs. effort lost not adding value. | Quantifies the effort lost due to activity that does not add value. |
| Flow Predictability (SAFe) | Surfaces to consistency of teams regarding ability to meet commitments. | At 80% or above it can be said that a teams is quite predictable regarding the delivery on commitments for each cycle (sprint or PI). |
A word of caution about such metrics:
Never ever use Flow Metrics or any agile metrics to compare teams. Reason being that all teams are different. They are operating at different levels of maturity and facing different challenges. Using metrics to drive performance bonuses is generally accepted as a really bad idea.
At the same time such metrics can and should be used for learning. Through the proper lens metrics can reveal individual teams that are doing well or struggling. It would be a good thing to better understand why one team is doing so well and may have some wisdom to pass along to others. Similarly, a team that is struggling may need some extra coaching from an expert or another team that is doing well.
More information on Flow Metrics:
- How to Use Flow Metrics® to Optimize Software Delivery – Planview
- Measuring the Flow of Value Using Flow Metrics – Atlassian Community
- Measure and Grow – Scaled Agile Framework
At NRM we know flow and how it relates to business risk. Contact us to book a free consultation to better understand how to leverage Flow Metrics to improve how your business delivers values.