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Flow Framework®

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To measure the performance of the value streams, Kersten proposes the Flow Framework®, a structure of Flow artifacts and the measurement of those artifacts using Flow Metrics®.

Kersten describes the need to move from project-based design to product development using long-lived value streams. And he identified the following four outcomes that he wanted to monitor:

  • Value
  • Cost
  • Quality
  • Happiness

These items related to 4 Flow Items:

  • Features to deliver: bring about direct business value.
    • In SAFe®, Flow Framework® features can be mapped to feature → decompose into user story and enabler story (inside a Program Increment (PI))
  • Defect fixes
    • fixing any defects
    • the fix is pulled by the customer as part of the solution
  • Risk avoidance
    • Reduce disks are delivered by the value stream to difference stakeholders
    • In SAFe®, it means ot fullfill NFRs (Non Functional Requirements) and mitigate or eliminate risks are compliance enablers
      • Compliance Enablers: are activities or work items designed to ensure that the system, product, or process adheres to external regulations, standards, or internal policies (e.g., ISO standards, GDPR, FDA, etc.).
      • Compliance Enablers might involve documentation, audits, testing, or specific tasks required to meet compliance.
      • Timeboxed Compliance Enablers as Features:
        • When compliance enablers are too large or complex to be completed by a single team, they are identified as features.
        • These features are prioritized and planned at the ART level during PI planning.
        • The ART, which consists of multiple teams, works collaboratively to accomplish the compliance feature within the timebox of the PI
        • Example: Creating system-wide audit documentation or conducting a security review that affects multiple teams.
      • Story-Sized Compliance Enablers for Individual Teams:
        • When compliance enablers are small enough to be handled by a single team, they are sized as stories.
        • These story-sized enablers are assigned to individual teams within the ART and handled during their regular iteration planning.
        • Example: Updating a specific component’s logging to meet compliance standards, which can be completed by one team.
  • Technical debt reduction
    • SAFe categorizes Flow Framework® debt items as enablers.
      • compliance enablers → Flow Framework® risks, other types of enablers help to maintain the architecture
      • Infra enablers → enhance the development process (include the incorporation & maintain of automation for testing and deployment)
      • Arch enablers → improve the architecture (technical foundation) of the ARTS’s product or solution → help teams build systems that are scalable, maintainable, and extensible
        • The outcome of arch enablers is Architectural Runway (collection of existing technical capabilities and architectural enablers that provide the foundation for developing and deploying future business features.) → when these enablers are in place, future features can be developed quickly (the runway)
      • Exploration enablers → allow team members of the ART to research unknown technologies or determine the best functional approach. To track the progress of these Flow Items, Kersten found 4 Flow Metrics®.
  • Flow Velocity®
    • Number of Flow Items completed in a unit of time
  • Flow Time®
    • Time to complete an individual Flow Item
  • Flow Load®
    • Measure of WIP
  • Flow Efficiency®
    • Ratio of active time to Flow Time®

And an additional type:

  • Flow Distribution® looks at the number of Flow Items complete for a value stream and measures each type of Flow Item as a percentage of the total number of Flow Items.

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