SAFe Wednesdays - 2 SAFe Metrics

Continuing my journey in making SAFe easy to understand, here is my second article about SAFe. I felt metrics would a great topic to talk about in the beginning as it is most widely used in organizations ensuring they show the true face of where organizations are heading with delivery of work (product, services, etc.).

The most important aspect of any metric is to understand what is it that we truly need to measure. This will show the teams that they are heading in the right direction and if not, then they are provided with opportunities to pivot quickly.

SAFe from Scaled Agile, Inc. provides 3 measurement domains to measure progress.

• Outcomes : Tells if the organizations are providing desired benefits.
• Flow: Helps in measuring how Teams, ART's and Solution trains are delivering business value against planned objectives
• Competency: Focuses on measuring Organizational competency by measuring the 7 core competencies of SAFe.

There are times when we use measures and metrics very differently and it might cause more harm than do any good to the teams and organizations. It becomes imperative to understand what you are truly measuring, if possible back it with a strong why!

Eg: Organization wants to measure Flow Efficiency. The possible reason could be that they are seeing increase in wait time and reduction in Active work time on issues/user stories/work item. Flow Efficiency helps in identifying those work items and make them visible to the audience so that they can make informed decisions about how to tackle such issues in future.

SAFe also talks about 4 critical success factors that can lead enterprises to be more effective with their measurements.

1. Use measurement in conjunction with other discovery tools: For example, a tool like Gemba that helps in effective Direct Observation of the actual environment than simply relying on the numbers provided.
2. Apply metrics where they support improved decision making: Some times we are driven to provide more and more information which leads to collect more and more data. This may cause loss of providing the right information and the essence of metrics might get lost. So it is important to understand how the metrics are helping in making better decisions.
3. Understand the affects of metrics on behaviour: You get what you measure. Although teams are highly motivated in delivering value, if we emphasis too much on improving the numbers rather than improving value delivery then there are chances that we may focus more on achieving that number than the goal of delivering value. Be more cognizant of what you ask.
4. Interpret metrics carefully: A classic example is the use of Velocity chart. Although most of us know that Velocity chart is not a measure of teams success and shouldn't be used as an absolute forecasting tool. But we end up doing exactly that. As much as it is important to collect data, it is equally important to interpret it correctly else there are chances that we may derail the train.

More information on metrics can be found on : https://scaledagileframework.com/measure-and-grow/ page of SAFe big picture.

There are many other metrics that can be helpful. But the idea is to not complicate your project or work by simply introducing things that might feel new and eye catchy in the beginning but doesn't add any true value to the team or organizations.

This reminds me of one of the 12 principles from Agile Manifesto:

Simplicity - The art of maximizing the work NOT DONE.