Hey,

Last week we talked about flow and why it is so important.

This week, we will delve deep into flow metrics.

To manage flow we are going to need to closely monitor four metrics:

1) Cycle Time

2) Work In Progress

3) Throughput

4) Work Item Age

Once we know what metrics to track, we can visualize those metrics in flow-based analytics.

These analytics will bring visibility to any problems with flow much more quickly so that we can proactively deal with issues rather than retroactively fight fires.

Items taking too long?

Not enough getting done?

These metrics and analytics will give us some of the magic levers we can pull to make things better.

Why These Metrics?

In addition to being actionable, there are certain other criteria that must be met when deciding what metrics to capture.

Eric Reis, of Lean Startup fame, gives one perspective: “The only metrics that entrepreneurs should invest in are those that help them make decisions.” Well said.

Troy Magennis, of Lean Forecasting fame, goes even further: “If a metric does not offer predictive power, then capturing that metric is waste.”

Last but not least, our customers will ask us to make predictions.

These flow metrics are the answers to those questions.

By definition, tracking these metrics offers predictive power and will help us make better decisions.

Why Not Traditional Agile Metrics?

Traditional Agile metrics and analytics give no visibility nor any suggestion of what to do when things go wrong.

“Work Harder”, “Estimate Better”, “Plan Better”, “Hope”, “Pray”, “Cry” are not viable nor sustainable strategies.

Adding to this problem is that all of the tooling that has been developed around these legacy Agile metrics provide incorrect or incomplete information.

Story Points, Velocity, Burn Down charts are about as far from Agile as one can get.

What Makes these Metrics Lean and Agile?

Part of the Agile Manifesto mentions “Customer Collaboration”.

Collaboration means speaking the language of the customer. And that language should extend to cover all the metrics and analytics that we use.

Have you ever had to explain what a Story Point is to a customer?

How about Velocity?

If you do not like yourself very much, march into your CFO’s office someday and try to explain what a Story Point is.

However, I guarantee all of your stakeholders understand the concept of elapsed time.

I guarantee they understand the concept of the total number of features to be delivered in a release.

If we truly want to be Agile, we are going to have to adopt the language of our customers.

To that end, we must choose words and concepts that they are comfortable without forcing them to learn a new, arbitrary, and unhelpful vocabulary.

Let's dive in:

1️⃣ Cycle Time

Cycle Time represents the amount of elapsed time between when a work item started and when a work item finished.

Cycle Time is also the amount of time it takes to get feedback on what you deliver. Ideally, it should be the amount of time it takes to get customer feedback (if done means released in your workflow).

Customer feedback is of vital importance in our knowledge work world. Value itself is ultimately determined by the customer, which means your team is going to want to make sure it gets that value feedback as quickly as possible.

The last thing you want is to develop something that the customer does not need - especially if it takes you forever to do so. Shortening Cycle Time will shorten the (ideally customer) feedback loop. And to shorten Cycle Time, you are going to first need to measure it.

2️⃣ Work In Progress (WIP)

WIP represents the number of work items started but not finished.

In the context of Scrum, the work items are called Product Backlog Items (PBIs); so, to calculate WIP you simply count the PBIs within your process boundaries. That’s it.

3️⃣ Throughput

Throughput represents the number of work items finished per unit of time. Stated in a slightly different way, Throughput is the measure of how fast items leave your process.

The unit of time that your team chooses for your Throughput measurement is completely up to you. You can measure the number of items that get done per day, per week, per Sprint, etc.

For example, you might determine the Throughput of your system as “five items per day” (for a given day) or “twenty items per month” (for a given month).

The Throughput metric answers the very important question of “How many PBIs am I going to get in the next release?”. At some point you are going to need to answer that question, so track your Throughput and be prepared!

4️⃣ Work Item Age

Work Item Age represents the amount of elapsed time between when a work item started and current time.

Because Work Item Age is a measure of in-progress time for all of your work that is currently in flight, it (by definition) applies only to items that have entered, but not exited the workflow. Once an item exits the workflow, all the age that has accumulated up to that point immediately becomes converted to Cycle Time.

That's it.

The best time to start tracking flow metrics was long ago. The next best time is now.

Have a great week.

May the flow be with you!

Until next time,

Dimitrije