Sense
Tune into what is emerging
Fast flow organizations develop the capability to sense tensions early—small signals that hint where change might be needed. Sensing is about noticing, not reacting.
It means tuning into what the system is trying to tell you before pain points become visible bottlenecks or breakdowns.
How we Sense
- Use your current rituals, ceremonies, and communication channels to spot early signs of misalignment, duplication, overload, or missing capabilities.
- Listen for informal signals—frustrations, delays, missed expectations, or other signs of friction—that often surface before formal metrics move.
- Encourage teams to share signals without fear, building psychological safety around surfacing tensions.
- Look across boundaries, not just within teams, to sense flow constraints in the interactions between teams, systems, and services.
Why Sense?
You cannot fix what you cannot feel.
In fast-moving environments, waiting for big problems to become obvious is a losing game. By the time flow has clearly broken down, the cost of fixing it is much higher.
Sensing is about tuning into the early signals—the tensions, gaps, and friction points—that suggest change might be needed. It is less about formal metrics, more about paying attention to what teams, users, and the system itself are telling you.
When we sense early, we give ourselves more options. We can make smaller moves, learn faster, and stay closer to what reality demands.
The organizations that thrive are not the ones that react fastest to disaster. They are the ones that learn to feel the shifts before disaster even shows up.
Sensing is the foundation for effective, intentional action. If we cannot sense what is emerging, we risk acting blindly or too late.
Outcomes we are aiming for when we Sense
- Minimize delay in detecting tensions that impact the flow of value.
- Maximize early visibility of weak signals across team boundaries and systems.
- Increase the psychological safety for teams to surface emerging concerns.
- Reduce the risk of acting too late or only after major failures occur.
- Increase the organization’s ability to adapt through earlier sensing and intervention.
Do you want to uncover flow friction in your organization?
Why not try a Flow Friction Discovery workshop?