Throughput, master the flow and get more results

One of the first challenges for teams that are starting out in agility is to understand their ability to deliver. But for that, it needs to eliminate waste from the flow and find the balance to maintain the delivery cadence. If you take on a lot of work to do in Sprint, there can be overload. If there is a lack of uniformity in size or few deliveries, it will cause irregularities with unpredictable or inconsistent results.

The Value Delivery Cycle , by connecting the potential of Agility with Lean through the agile journey, will offer greater value to the business in the shortest time possible, providing solutions to:

• Muri – overhead, WIP (number of running tasks) not limited;
• Mura – irregularity in the workflow;
• Mute – process or activity that does not result in customer value.

What is Throughput

Translated into Portuguese as an average flow rate, Throughput is the amount of tasks delivered in a given period. This metric is calculated from the number of completed items that meet the product’s finished definition. The period can be by week, month, Sprint (fortnightly) or according to the reality and needs of the team.

By measuring Throughput continuously, you will perceive the average flow, enabling better planning regarding the work of the team that should be developed and whether you will be able to deliver, thus improving predictability.

Improving Throughput

To improve the flow of deliveries, it is essential to manage the workflow and implement evolutionary improvements focusing on the 3M’s (Muri, Mura and Muda).

The next step is to find the balance between WIP (number of items running within the workflow), Lead Time and Throughput. Because the more items are worked within the period, the longer it will take to complete, reducing the delivery flow.

Workflow Management

With beefor it is possible to manage the entire cycle of demands, from the appearance of the idea, cost and deadline estimation, execution to the analysis of project performance indicators and collaboration of project teams.

And it goes beyond! beefor is the platform focused on governance and management of agile teams, which brings together configurable agile best practices, generating insights for continuous improvement.

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Image Credit:

Cover photo given by drobotdean .