Upstream Kanban is a Kanban system designed to uncover new knowledge and assess delivery options. The upstream process is a highly creative, collaborative, and unpredictable activity. Consequently, the Upstream Kanban requires a specific set of metrics that can help guide your decisions. This article explores seven essential Upstream Kanban metrics to support agile decision-making, portfolio management, and agile product development, if you are:
- A PMO expert or business leader using Upstream Kanban in portfolio management
- Product Owner or Scrum Master who is using Upstream Kanban for Product Backlog Management (more info here)
- The service request manager or Kanban coach uses Upstream Kanban to evaluate the options queue before the commitment point.
This article can help you define Upstream Kanban metrics. The seven essential Upstream Kanban metrics can be used in different contexts, such as portfolio management, product backlog management, and service delivery with Kanban. In the following paragraphs, we will outline Upstream Kanban and then discuss factors to consider when selecting upstream metrics. Next, I will explore a set of seven basic metrics recommended for Upstream Kanban, and finally, address practical applications and considerations when implementing Upstream Kanban metrics.
What is Upstream Kanban
Kanban is a method for managing and improving services that deliver knowledge work (Kanban University, 2024). Many scrum teams view Kanban narrowly as a strategy for optimising the flow of value through a process that uses a visual, work-in-progress limited pull system for the Scrum Team (Daniel Vacanti, January ).
Think of Upstream Kanban as the research phase in a company, service or product team, where ideas are brainstormed, evaluated, and prioritised before a bigger commitment to this idea begins. In other words, it is a process of initial assessment of potential projects, features or customer requests to pick the right ones.
The Upstream Kanban helps in managing the flow of incoming requests. It allows the team to effectively prioritise their work before diving into execution, which we typically name downstream. Think of the upstream process as a triage system: each request navigates through specific selection steps. However, not all requests follow the same path, and their urgency can vary significantly (Steyaert, 2018).
It’s ideal for organisations focusing on the most valuable initiatives and following an Agile mindset. Product backlog management, portfolio planning, or innovation pipelines are typical activities. Upstream Kanban is used by a team operating in software development, healthcare, gas and oil, insurance, and many other sectors. As an outcome of proper Upstream Kanban implementation, the team aligns creative ideation with strategic goals, ensuring that resources are invested in the most impactful ideas.
Upstream Kanban Metrics: Factors for Metric Selection
Upstream Kanban refers to the early stages of the value stream or value delivery, such as idea generation, requirement gathering, and validation, before committing to development. Upstream Kanban emphasises effectivenessover efficiency. Rather than focusing on doing things faster, the goal is to ensure the team is working on the right stuff – options that bring the most value. Effective metrics in this phase help to
- Maintain a healthy variety of options: The goal is to ensure sufficient choices are available at the right time. If your team does not have a queue of potential options, they will likely not work on the most valuable options.
- Maintain quality of options: Working in an Agile way does not equal working fast. Instead, it means focusing on working smart. Teams can generate the most value by focusing on the right options. The outcome from Upstream Kanban is information about what to focus on in the following steps and basic information that will allow us to make informed decisions about allocating effort, time, and people into the delivery of the idea in the downstream.
- Protect from overburdening: The upstream process requires a creative approach. Creativity is defined as developing novel and task-appropriate ideas, behaviours, and products that can result in innovative outcomes (Beghetto, 2013). This type of cognitive work requires slack time. Innovation leaders, like Google and 3M, create work environments for creative times that provide slack time (Ajay Agrawal, 2018).
- Guide investment between upstream and downstream work: Metrics help determine where your team should focus time and resources, whether putting more effort into generating and refining new ideas (upstream) or executing and delivering validated work (downstream). This balance should be a conscious decision of people managing the services or the delivery team. Metrics should give insight to prevent overinvesting in one part of the process while starving the other.
The abovementioned factors focus on effectiveness, which is about doing the right things. This serves as the general purpose of Upstream Kanban. The importance of metrics in Upstream Kanban lies in their ability to discover value, assess decision-making efficiency, and prevent downstream waste.
7 Essential Upstream Kanban Metrics
The following table describes seven essential metrics for Upstream Kanban. Each metric has a short definition, advice on measuring it, and a short explanation of its significance.
Presentation of Upstream Kanban metrics
In Upstream Kanban, we focus on tracking how metrics change over time because it reveals patterns, trends, and anomalies that single data points can’t. We are more interested in general trends and changes over time rather than specific values. Here are three basic charts: CFD, scatter plot diagram, and histogram diagram.
This time-based perspective allows us to identify trends, shifts, and patterns, highlighting improvements and emerging issues within the system. By tracking metrics over time, teams can better understand system behaviour, respond proactively to problems, and make evidence-based decisions that support continuous improvement. This aligns Upstream Kanban with an empirical approach to learn from the system as it operates, not just from real-time snapshots used by Agile Teams.
Practical Application and Considerations
The choice of metrics may differ across organisations. The list of 7 essential Upstream Kanban metrics can and should be treated as a reference list that can be enhanced and adopted.
When a decision-maker considers adding new metrics, they should evaluate whether the new metrics are aiding them in making better-informed decisions in Upstream Kanban.
Another factor to consider is the cost of acquiring the metrics – how much effort is required to gather them. Once these two fundamental aspects (pain and gains) are identified, we can make a more informed decision about adding or deleting metrics from the set we choose to track and monitor in Upstream Kanban.
Upstream Kanban is a powerful approach that helps Scrum teams refine their product backlog through a structured Product Backlog Management process. Please read this blog to learn more about how to do it. A set of 7 essential Upstream Kanban metrics can be easily adapted for the Scrum Team.
For various reasons, some teams may be interested in incorporating activity-based metrics, such as customer interviews. These metrics can include a collection of indicators related to learning speed or measurements assessing alignment with company strategy or the product goal. They should expand the list accordingly to their needs.
Upstream Kanban is a powerful approach to managing ideas and requirements before they enter downstream delivery. Metrics are the foundation of the empirical process. To thoroughly follow the empirical process, you need the right metrics to guide your decisions. A set of seven essential Upstream Kanban metrics that can be treated as a default basic list for empirical decisions
Upstream Kanban emphasises the significance of managing options rather than concentrating on “managing flow,” as observed in downstream Delivery Kanban systems. The objective is to ensure that a sufficient number of choices with the potential highest value, benefits, or cost of delay associated with them are available at the right time while also preventing the system and the creative workers from becoming overwhelmed. Maintaining a balanced selection of options enables teams to sustain the appropriate investment level between upstream and downstream.
If you need help with your Scrum and Kanban implementation or support in your digital, business, operation or Agile transformation, visit pawelrola.com or contact me on LinkedIn.
Let’s work together to bring the organisations of the future!
Share this content:
Bibliography
Steyaert, P. (2018). Essential Upstream Kanban. Blue Hole Press.
Kanban University. (2024, 10 5). Kanban Glossary. Retrieved from https://kanban.university/glossary/: https://kanban.university/glossary/
Daniel Vacanti, a. Y. (January , 2011). The Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams. Retrieved from scrum.org: https://www.scrum.org/resources/kanban-guide-scrum-teams
Beghetto, R. A. (2013). illing ideas softly? The promise and perils of creativity in the classroom. Information Age Publishing.
Ajay Agrawal, A. G. (2018). Slack Time and Innovation. Organization Science, 29.