Discover how you can improve your team's flow by using these simple Lean Metrics and techniques. Some of the metrics we cover include Lead Time, Production Lead Time, Cycle Time/Takt Time and Cost of Delay. We also explore how to interpret Cumulative Flow Diagrams (CFD). Slides with notes available via: goo.gl/s3RpUW

1. LEAN METRICS
TEAM HACKING WITH

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3. KEEP STORIES TO
A SIMILAR SIZE
OTHERWISE, YOUR METRICS DON’T
MEAN MUCH

4. HOW ARE METRICS USEFUL?
▸ Understand changes in team dynamics
▸ Highlight opportunities for improvements
▸ Highlight challenges the team is facing
▸ Forecasting
▸ Inspect and adapt

5. WHERE ARE THEY DANGEROUS
▸ Don’t reflect productivity
▸ Lack qualitative observations
▸ Partial view
▸ Most are lagging
▸ Gaming

6. “WHEN A MEASURE
BECOMES A
TARGET, IT CEASES
TO BE A GOOD
MEASURE.”
Goodhart's law

7. HONEST SIMPLE
ACTIONABLE
QUALITY METRICS

8. WORK IN PROGRESS
QUEUE SIZE
LEADING INDICATORS

9. TIME IN QUEUESPROCESS EFFICIENCY

10. COST OF DELAY
WHAT’S A QCOST?
WSJF =
Value + Time + Risk + Opportunity
Size
Story Value PA =
Projected Revenue
Story Count
Story Value PA
Business Days
Daily COD =
IDEAS TO
QUANTIFY
1
2
3
WSJF
DAILY AVERAGE
OTHERS?

11. THROUGHPUT
LEADTIME
HOW MUCH, HOW
FAST?

12. PRODUCTION-
LEAD TIME
TIME TO PRODUCE

13. Count
0
7.5
15
22.5
30
Days to complete
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11+
PRODUCTION LEAD TIME DISTRIBUTION
Days Count % % SUM
1 12 11 11
2 15 14 26
3 24 23 49
4 17 16 65
5 15 14 79
6 10 10 89
7 5 5 93
8 3 3 96
9 2 2 98
10 1 1 99
11+ 1 1 100

14. CYCLE TIME
TAKT TIME
FREQUENCY

15. [AVERAGE] CYCLE TIME IS
COMPUTED BY DIVIDING
OPERATING HOURS BY THE
QUANTITY REQUIRED PER
DAY. EVEN WHEN CYCLE TIME
IS DETERMINED THIS WAY,
INDIVIDUAL TIMES MAY
DIFFER.
Taiichi Ohno (1988)

16. CYCLE TIME !=
PRODUCTION LEAD
TIME!!!
WELL… IN THE TPS & MOST LEAN
TEXTS ANYHOW.

17. CYCLE TIME
30 min cycle time
30 min /2
15 min cycle time

18. CYCLE TIME - SEQUENTIAL STEPS
30 min cycle
time
WASH DRY FOLD
CYCLE TIME 30 MIN
30 min cycle
time
30 min cycle
time

19. THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS
IDENTIFY
EXPLOIT
ELEVATE SUBORDINATE
REPEAT

20. LITTLE’S LAW
WHAT TO CHANGE?
WIP = THROUGHPUT * PRODUCTION LEAD TIME
50 = 5 * 10
PRODUCTION LEAD TIME = WIP /THROUGHPUT
10 = 50 /5
THROUGHPUT = WIP /PRODUCTION LEAD TIME
5 = 50 /10

21. WIP 4
4 DAYS
WIP = THROUGHPUT * PRODUCTION LEAD TIME
4 = 1 * 4

22. WIP 2
2 DAYS
(4 = 1 * 4)/2
2 = .5 * 2

23. DEFECTS PER STORY
MTTR
FAILURE
DEMAND

24. "HIGH-QUALITY SOFTWARE
IS NOT EXPENSIVE. HIGH-
QUALITY SOFTWARE IS
FASTER AND CHEAPER TO
BUILD AND MAINTAIN THAN
LOW-QUALITY SOFTWARE,
FROM INITIAL DEVELOPMENT
ALL THE WAY THROUGH
TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP."
Capers Jones

25. TIME TO
FEEDBACK
NO
SURPRISES

26. NET FLOW
ARE WE TAKING ON TOO MUCH?

27. UTILISATION
SOME THINGS BEST
LEFT ALONE

30. DARK
MATTER!
WHERE DID
THAT COME
FROM?

31. SOLVING THE
CUSTOMER’S PROBLEM
FOCUS ON
IMPACT

32. TEAM
HAPPINESS
FLOW IS GREAT,
BUT…

33. A QUICK RECAP SO FAR…
▸ Queue size
▸ Work In Progress
▸ Cost of Delay
▸ Throughput
▸ Lead time
▸ Production Lead Time
(AKA Processing time)
▸ Mean Time To Resolve
▸ Cycle Time/Takt Time
▸ Theory of Constraints
▸ Little’s Law
▸ Net flow
▸ Time to Feedback
▸ Dark Matter
▸ NPS
▸ Team Happiness

34. Create your own from: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/
16YuUH298KMV4ummXv2fGHmORvUGXMW2wZhAX2VtCkkM/edit?hl=en#gid=2
CUMULATIVE FLOW DIAGRAMS (CFD)

36. Prod Lead Time

37. CFD EXAMPLES
SCOPE CHANGE INCREASED WIP DEV WIP/QA CAPACITY ISSUE?
BIG BATCH LASTING PROBLEM TROUBLE IN TEST
See more: http://brodzinski.com/2013/07/cumulative-flow-diagram.html

38. REMOVE ‘TO DO’ & ‘DONE’ TO SEE WIP

39. PROCEED WITH CAUTION

40. QUESTIONS/THOUGHTS?

41. REFERENCES
▸ https://less.works/less/principles/queueing_theory.html
▸ http://leankit.com/learn/kanban/lean-flow-metrics/
▸ http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/1460.html#1
▸ http://web.mit.edu/sgraves/www/papers/Little's%20Law-
Published.pdf
▸ http://itsadeliverything.com/littles-law-the-basis-of-lean-and-
kanban
▸ http://brodzinski.com/2013/07/cumulative-flow-diagram.html
▸ https://www.atlassian.com/agile/metrics
▸ https://stefanroock.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/kanban-
definition-of-lead-time-and-cycle-time/

42. ATTRIBUTIONS
▸ Over Utilisation: http://media.virbcdn.com/cdn_images/
resize_1600x1600/a3/PageImage-510914-3534502-
overload.jpg
▸ Samuel Jackson Image: http://hqwallbase.pw/43039-wtf-
wallpaper-1440x900/
▸ Illustrated CFD: http://paulklipp.com/images/
Interpreting_a_Cumulative_Flow_Diagram.jpg
▸ Fail Image: http://www.sharenator.com/FAIL_6/
▸ NPS image: http://www.netpromotersystem.com/about/
measuring-your-net-promoter-score.aspx