A Cumulative Flow Diagrams (CFD) may seem complicated at first but, at a closer look, it can easily show a number of useful insights. Ideally, they should all converge into a stable, smooth flow of the project.
Ideally…
Unstable periods can happen, even in the same project. The main point is that a CFD helps you identifying and acting upon instability.
After a free kanban board workbook with CFD and the most important metrics you can visualize with it, here you’ll get an overview of the 3 most common scenarios your team might face when analyzing a CFD, and what you can do about them.
Read on!
1. System Stability and Time to Market on the Cumulative Flow Diagram
2. Interpreting the Cumulative Flow Diagram
Stable System
Unstable System: Flooding
Unstable System: Starvation
3. Further Reading and Resources
Up
1. System Stability and Time to Market on the Cumulative Flow Diagram
The CFD helps you in visualizing the flow in the Kanban system in relation to the work in progress (WIP).
An optimal WIP limit leads to a stable system, “a system for which the inbound rate equals the outbound rate” (J.D.C. Little), which in turn reduces time to market (lead time).
The CFD is an amazing tool for noticing instability and acting upon it. All your team has to do is reviewing the graph and answering the following questions:
- What are the entry and exit rates?
- How are progressing the top and bottom lines of each band?
The entry rate [1] is the rate at which items are being added to the system.
The exit rate [2] is the rate at which items exit the system.
Entry and exit rates determine how the upper and lower lines for each curve on a CFD progress and, henceforth, if the system is stable or not.
Up
2. Interpreting the Cumulative Flow Diagram
The next images depict the most common scenarios your team may encounter on a CFD.
Stable System
entry rate = exit rate
The lines progress in parallel.
Unstable System: Flooding
entry rate > exit rate
The lines rapidly widen. WIP increases.
The cards that enter the corresponding stage on your kanban board is higher than the number of items that leaves it, a common scenario generated by multitasking or activities that don’t generate value but increase WIP.
Unstable System: Starvation
entry rate < exit rate
The lines rapidly narrow. WIP decreases.
The throughput of the column of your kanban board is higher than the entry rate, sign that at this stage of the process you’ve got more capacity than you need and you should relocate it to stabilize the system.
Up
3. Further Reading and Resources
- Download here the all-in-one spreadsheet with Kanban Board and embedded CFD.
- Learn more about the implications of Little’s law for Kanban teams in this book by Joakim Sundén and Marcus Hammarberg: Kanban in Action.
- Check out my post “How to Read a Cumulative Flow Diagram in Kanban – with Sample Spreadsheet“
- Subscribe to my YouTube Channel and get my new agile and kanban freebies.
Up
LICENCE AGREEMENT: Private Use (not for distribution or resale).