diff --git a/taskflow/patterns/graph_flow.py b/taskflow/patterns/graph_flow.py
index 5c560891..1db5a564 100644
--- a/taskflow/patterns/graph_flow.py
+++ b/taskflow/patterns/graph_flow.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ from networkx.algorithms import dag
 from networkx.classes import digraph
 
 from taskflow import exceptions as exc
-from taskflow import utils
 from taskflow.patterns import ordered_flow
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -53,10 +52,10 @@ class Flow(ordered_flow.Flow):
     def _fetch_task_inputs(self, task):
         inputs = collections.defaultdict(list)
 
-        for n in utils.safe_attr(task, 'requires', []):
+        for n in getattr(task, 'requires', []):
             for (them, there_result) in self.results:
                 if (not self._graph.has_edge(them, task) or
-                    not n in utils.safe_attr(them, 'provides', [])):
+                    not n in getattr(them, 'provides', [])):
                     continue
                 if there_result and n in there_result:
                     inputs[n].append(there_result[n])
@@ -90,9 +89,9 @@ class Flow(ordered_flow.Flow):
         provides_what = collections.defaultdict(list)
         requires_what = collections.defaultdict(list)
         for t in self._graph.nodes_iter():
-            for r in utils.safe_attr(t, 'requires', []):
+            for r in getattr(t, 'requires', []):
                 requires_what[r].append(t)
-            for p in utils.safe_attr(t, 'provides', []):
+            for p in getattr(t, 'provides', []):
                 provides_what[p].append(t)
 
         def get_providers(node, want_what):
diff --git a/taskflow/patterns/linear_flow.py b/taskflow/patterns/linear_flow.py
index 59653a74..9a601b76 100644
--- a/taskflow/patterns/linear_flow.py
+++ b/taskflow/patterns/linear_flow.py
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 #    under the License.
 
 from taskflow import exceptions as exc
-from taskflow import utils
 from taskflow.patterns import ordered_flow
 
 
@@ -32,10 +31,10 @@ class Flow(ordered_flow.Flow):
 
     def _fetch_task_inputs(self, task):
         inputs = {}
-        for r in utils.safe_attr(task, 'requires', []):
+        for r in getattr(task, 'requires', []):
             # Find the last task that provided this.
             for (last_task, last_results) in reversed(self.results):
-                if r not in utils.safe_attr(last_task, 'provides', []):
+                if r not in getattr(last_task, 'provides', []):
                     continue
                 if last_results and r in last_results:
                     inputs[r] = last_results[r]
@@ -48,10 +47,10 @@ class Flow(ordered_flow.Flow):
     def _validate_provides(self, task):
         # Ensure that some previous task provides this input.
         missing_requires = []
-        for r in utils.safe_attr(task, 'requires', []):
+        for r in getattr(task, 'requires', []):
             found_provider = False
             for prev_task in reversed(self._tasks):
-                if r in utils.safe_attr(prev_task, 'provides', []):
+                if r in getattr(prev_task, 'provides', []):
                     found_provider = True
                     break
             if not found_provider:
diff --git a/taskflow/utils.py b/taskflow/utils.py
index dbb5add5..730bc817 100644
--- a/taskflow/utils.py
+++ b/taskflow/utils.py
@@ -24,10 +24,6 @@ import time
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-def safe_attr(obj, name, default=None):
-    return getattr(obj, name, default)
-
-
 def await(check_functor, timeout=None):
     if timeout is not None:
         end_time = time.time() + max(0, timeout)