Considerations

For much of the life of a solution, Teams face the challenge of achieving a Rate of Delivery so they can add more value for our colleagues and customers whilst also meeting the promised Quality of Service. This is not an easy balance to achieve.

We review Service Effectiveness in order to assess how well we are achieving the balance. Service Effectiveness is measured through the rate of achievement of the agreed service levels for the solution.

Levels

Green

Sufficient Adherence To Agreed Quality Of Service

Service Levels for the solutions that comprise the product are routinely met.

Teams balance their attention between Quality of Service and Rate of Delivery appropriately. Incidents are not allowed to age excessively.

Repeated incidents are subjected to root cause analysis, work to correct root causes is prioritised in the backlog (or Roadmap, as appropriate). A level or downward trend in incident severity shows stable or improving product quality.

Amber

Inconsistent Adherence To Agreed Quality of Service

Service Levels of some of the solutions that comprise the product are met some of the time. There are short periods of time when Service Levels are not met.

The need for continued service intervention is prolonged because repeated incidents are not analysed and root causes are not corrected. There is no clear trend in incident severity.

Or

Excessive Focus On Quality Of Service

Service Levels are sometimes exceeded, but only at the cost of the Engineering Capability of the team. This excessive attention to service reduces the total value delivered to Customers and Colleagues because new features are delivered more slowly.

Red

Routine Failure To Meet Agreed Quality Of Service

Solutions that comprise the product regularly fail to achieve agreed Service Levels. Rate and severity of incidents may increase over time, demonstrating a lack of attention to Product quality and overall Quality of Service.

Or

Routine Excessive Focus On Quality Of Service

Service Levels are routinely and persistently exceeded, but only at the cost of substantially reducing the engineering capacity of the teams - constraining the Rate of Delivery. The total value delivered to Customers and Colleagues is significantly reduced by the inappropriate prioritisation of service over development activities.