Agile & Delivery playbook/Module 3 · Kanban & flow
Day 29 / 100 · Kanban & flow · Service level expectations
Answer “when?” before they ask.
A service level expectation (SLE) says how long a typical item should take, based on your own history, not a guess.
01
Collect
Cycle times for your last 30 to 50 finished items.
02
Pick a percentile
The 85th percentile is a common starting point.
03
State it
“85% of our items finish within 8 days.”
04
Use it daily
Items nearing the SLE get attention before they breach it.
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