Value Streams and Business Agility Flashcards

Which of the following is NOT one of SAFe's five flow metrics used to measure the health of a value stream?

Answer: Flow Complexity

The five SAFe flow metrics are Flow Velocity, Flow Time, Flow Load, Flow Efficiency, and Flow Distribution. Flow Complexity is not a defined SAFe flow metric.

What does Flow Time measure in a SAFe value stream?

Answer: The elapsed time from when a work item is accepted into the value stream until it is delivered

Flow Time (also called cycle time or lead time) measures how long a work item takes from entry into the value stream to delivery, capturing both active work time and wait time.

Flow Efficiency in SAFe is calculated as:

Answer: Active time divided by total flow time, expressed as a percentage

Flow Efficiency = (Active Time / Total Flow Time) × 100%. In most organizations this is surprisingly low (5–15%), revealing how much time is spent waiting rather than actively working.

What is Flow Load in SAFe?

Answer: The total number of work items in a value stream, including those actively in progress and those waiting

Flow Load is the total number of work items—in-progress and waiting—currently inside the value stream, and high flow load is a leading indicator of congestion and long flow times.

Which flow metric helps teams understand the balance of different work types (features, defects, risks, debt) flowing through the value stream?

Answer: Flow Distribution

Flow Distribution shows the proportion of each work item type (feature, bug, risk, technical debt) being processed, helping leadership make informed decisions about where to allocate capacity.

In SAFe, what is the primary tool used to visualize and manage the flow of Epics through the Portfolio?

Answer: Portfolio Kanban

The Portfolio Kanban system makes Epic flow visible, enabling Portfolio stakeholders to limit work in process, manage bottlenecks, and ensure each Epic receives proper analysis before committing resources.

When identifying value streams during a SAFe transformation, what is the recommended starting point according to SAFe guidance?

Answer: Start by identifying the operational value streams that deliver products or services to customers, then find the development value streams that support them

SAFe recommends starting with the operational value streams that directly serve customers, then identifying the development value streams (and their ARTs) that build the systems enabling those operational flows.