The document discusses different metrics for measuring workflow, including lead time, cycle time, throughput, and cumulative flow diagrams (CFDs). It explains that lead time is the total time from start to finish of a work item, while cycle time does not include wait time. Throughput measures the number of work items completed within a time period. CFDs visualize the number of work items in different workflow stages over time to identify bottlenecks. The document provides examples of charts for these different metrics and discusses how teams can use metrics to understand their workflow and improve predictability.

1. excella.com | @excellaco
Measuring Flow:
Metrics that Matter
Julie Wyman & Hunter Tammaro

2. excella.com | @excellaco
Agenda
• Why is flow so
important?
• How do we
measure flow?
• Practice!

3. excella.com | @excellaco
Utilization vs. Flow
What’s the difference?

4. excella.com | @excellaco
Prioritizing
Utilization
Fully utilized, but spend
most of the time waiting
Slow flow through the
system
Slow to respond to change

5. excella.com | @excellaco
Prioritizing
Flow
Work almost always moving
Rapid flow through the
system
Short response time reduces
effect of impediments

6. excella.com | @excellaco
Measuring Flow

7. excella.com | @excellaco
First, a couple
questions…
Who uses?
• Scrum?
• Kanban?
• Other?
What metrics do you use?

8. excella.com | @excellaco
Lead and Cycle Time
How long from start to finish?

9. excella.com | @excellaco
What it measures
Backlog Ready Develop Validate Done
Doing Done
Cycle
Time
Lead
Time

10. excella.com | @excellaco
How to collect
Backlog Ready Develop Validate Done
Doing Done
Cycle
Time

11. excella.com | @excellaco
Average and Median Cycle Time
What:
Average
The arithmetic mean (adding a
group of numbers and dividing by
the count of those numbers)
Median
The middle number of a group of
numbers
Why:
Helps visualize trends and provide
data for predicting delivery
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1 2 3 4 5
CycleTime(days)
Sprint
Average Median

12. excella.com | @excellaco
Cycle Time Distribution
What:
Shows how often
each cycle time
occurs
Why:
Differentiate between
trends and outliers.
May help explain
differences between
average and median
cycle time
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
#ofoccurrences
(oftheparticularcycletime)
Cycle Time (days)

13. excella.com | @excellaco
Cycle Time Scatter Plot
What:
Shows cycle time of individual
work items in the order
completed
Why:
Reflects cycle times within
iterations and when outliers
occurred
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
CycleTime(days)
User Story Number
(in order completed)

14. excella.com | @excellaco
Use in Scrum & Kanban
Central to Kanban
to show progress in
lieu of sprints
Useful in Scrum to
promote flow within
a sprint to avoid
“hockey stick”
shaped burndown
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
StoryPointsRemaining
Day

15. excella.com | @excellaco
Throughput
How many items in a given period of time?

16. excella.com | @excellaco
What it measures
What:
Number of work items
completed in a given length of
time
Why:
Predict how long to complete
a given set of work
Get a sense of team stability
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
1 2 3 4 5
#ofitemscompleted
Week
Throughput

17. excella.com | @excellaco
Comparison to Velocity
Similarities
• Team delivery over
time
• Provides predictability
Differences
• Independent of work
item size
• Not tied to a sprint
• Simplicity of collection

18. excella.com | @excellaco
Cumulative Flow Diagram
How is work moving along?

19. excella.com | @excellaco
What it measures
What:
Number of work items in a
given status over time
Why:
Highlights bottlenecks,
visualizes amount of work in
progress and cycle time,
shows end-to-end flow
through system
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49
NumberofItems
Days
Done Testing Development Ready Analysis
Cycle Time
WIP

20. excella.com | @excellaco
How to collect
Day Analysis Ready Develop Test Done
1 4 5 2 0 0
2 4 4 3 0 0
3 4 4 3 0 0
4 8 4 3 0 0
5 7 5 2 2 0
6 7 5 2 2 0
7 6 6 1 1 2
8 4 8 0 1 3
9 5 8 0 1 3
10 5 4 3 2 4
Test

21. excella.com | @excellaco
Comparison to Burndown Chart
Independent of work item
size and iteration
Gives insight into bottlenecks
on intermediate steps
Accounts for changes in
scope
Shows WIP and cycle time in
context
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
StoryPointsRemaining
Day

22. excella.com | @excellaco
Time to practice!
In small groups

23. excella.com | @excellaco
Instructions
Review sample charts in small groups and discuss:
• What does this chart tell you about the team’s flow?
• What trends do you see?
• What questions would you want to ask this team to learn more?
• What are some possible explanations?
• How could this data help you set expectations for delivery?

24. excella.com | @excellaco
Throughput
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
#ofWorkItemsCompleted
Week

25. excella.com | @excellaco
Cycle Time Distribution
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
0 5 10 15 20 25
#ofoccurrences
(oftheparticularcycletime)
Cycle Time (days)

26. excella.com | @excellaco
Cycle Time Scatter Plot
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49
CycleTime(days)
User Story Number (in order completed)
User Story
Defect
Expedited

27. excella.com | @excellaco
Cumulative Flow Diagram
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49
NumberofItems
Days
Analysis
Ready
Development
Testing
Done

28. excella.com | @excellaco
Wrapping it up
And some additional resources

29. excella.com | @excellaco
• Visualizing and understanding flow is
essential, regardless of Agile approach
used
• Lead and cycle time, throughput and
CFDs are relatively simple to collect
• Flow-based metrics provide deeper
insight without sacrificing usefulness
for predictability and planning
• Can be applied to end-to-end
processes beyond the team

30. excella.com | @excellaco
Additional
Resources
• Burndown Charts vs Cumulative
Flow Diagrams
• 7 Lean Metrics to Improve Flow
• Lean Metrics: Measure Predictability
with Facts over Estimates
• Using Flow Metrics to Deliver Faster
• More Cumulative Flow Diagrams

31. excella.com | @excellaco
Questions?

32. excella.com | @excellaco