In the realm of Agile, the concept of Business Value (BV) is pivotal yet often misrepresented.

It’s a metric that teams strive to quantify, yet it remains elusive due to its subjectivity and the time lag in realizing tangible outcomes.

Even, Scale Agile Framework (SAFe) use actual business and planned business values for program predictability calculations due to its relevance.

However, the pursuit of BV is a journey of balancing the immediate assumptions against the long-term impacts.

It’s about aligning team efforts with customer needs, even when those needs may not be fully articulated or understood at the outset.

This resonates with the concepts of Validating Assumption and Validating Impact.

Validating Assumption – “validate – within the shortest window whether that functionality or output exists. This is usually defined in the acceptance criteria and most teams achieve that within a sprint or multiple sprints. An example is, “deploy the new report to production”.

Validating Impact –  “validate – over a period of time usually (weeks, months, years) the outcomes of the delivered outputs.

For example, “ check if the new report in production is being used 80% of the time or 80% of users are running this report”

Actual Business Value can only be truly measured when the output is producing the required outcomes and impact to the business.

Unless we can validate the impact within a sprint or Program Increment (PI), what we call actual business value and use in our metrics and program predictability calculations for teams is still assumed (planned, hypothetical) business value.

As we navigate this terrain, it’s crucial to remember that BV is not just a number or a formula; it’s a commitment to delivering value that resonates with customers and stakeholders alike. It’s a continuous dialogue, a validation of assumptions, and an adaptation to feedback.

In this light, BV becomes a compass rather than a destination, guiding Agile teams towards customer-centric solutions that evolve over time.

Let’s embrace this dynamic approach to BV, where validating assumptions and measuring impact are integral to our Agile journey. 🚀

#Agile #SAFe #BusinessValue #CustomerCentricity #ContinuousImprovement #Scrum #ScrumbanAi