SAFe 6.0

There are two key and critical things that are needed to measure our predictability in a probabilistic way -- the probability of us meeting our promises (i.e. not in a deterministic way). Our predictability is very important to our customers who are waiting for their “valuable things” to be delivered by us. These two key and critical things are: 1) the ratio of Actual versus Planned — which is also known as Achievement Ratio (AR). To be predictable, the AR must consistently be between 0.80 and 1.00 (in percentage, which is 80% and 100%).  Otherwise, your process or system is unpredictable. Formula: AR…

Do you have in your process a "Wait" state? Example of a "Wait" state is "Ready for Product Owner Acceptance". Another example is "Ready for Test". Think of something similar in your system or process... a state (or step)  that does nothing of value -- a non-value-add (NVA) step. If /when you find this step, find out how long, on average, this step is. For instance... take the earlier example, "Ready for Product Owner Acceptance"... find out how long on average this step is... this is an NVA... if it is a necessary step, then minimize it...if it is not…

Value is realized when delivered and on customer's hands. Therefore, start finishing and... most important: Make value flow without interruptions. Interruptions (i.e. non-value-added steps, delays, bottlenecks, etc.) slow down the flow...causing long lead time. Continuous delivery of value at the shortest sustainable lead time is ideal. Efficiency of flow is key. We use Flow Efficiency Ratio to measure this. Let us bring this to home. Observe this video: The daytime scene is me travelling from my home to uptown. It took me 45 minutes. Flow is with interruptions -- lots of stop and go situation... causing unnecessary delays. Without interruptions,…

One of the great things (and there are many great things) that SAFe 6.0 has is this: Lean and Lean Thinking take center stage! I am very ecstatic about Lean taking center stage with SAFe 6.0. I am a Lean aficionado since the 1980s... and an Agilist since the 1990s... and I have had appreciation of this "Lean and Agile" pair back then (and I still do). In this era of Software and Digital, we, the knowledge workers, produce value through our "Lean Agile Software Factory"... mimicking the Lean Factory of the Industrial Revolution era. It is about darn time…