Cycle Time Scatterplot
Open the Cycle Time Scatterplot to see how much time a task spent in each queue state. Tasks high on the plot have longer cycle times and are usually good candidates for closer examination.
Flow Efficiency
What it answers
Where is work slowing down?
See how much of your cycle time is active work versus waiting.
Example
How to read it
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Average Flow Efficiency
This widget shows your workflow’s average flow efficiency percentage and its trend over time. Ideally, the trend line should remain steady or increase slightly.
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Task details
Click a point to see task flow efficiency, a direct link to the card in your management platform, and a cycle time breakdown of the time the work spent waiting.
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Flow efficiency percentage
The horizontal axis shows the flow efficiency percentage of your completed tasks for the selected time period.
See the Flow Efficiency in action
Analyze your flow efficiency
The Flow Efficiency Chart shows the flow efficiency of completed tasks during the selected time period. The horizontal axis shows flow efficiency percentage, and the vertical axis shows the number of work items.
Use the Blocked issues control to choose All time, Blocked time, or Time without blockers. Flow efficiency is recalculated based on your selection.
All time includes active, inactive, and blocked time. Time without blockers includes active and inactive time, while Blocked time includes active and blocked time.
To measure waiting time and flow efficiency, divide the states on your board into working states, where tasks are being worked on, and queue states, where tasks are waiting.
Identify the tasks with the longest waiting times
Click a point to see task details, including each task’s flow efficiency, a direct link to its card in your management platform, and a cycle time breakdown showing how long the work spent waiting.
Tasks on the left side of the chart have the lowest flow efficiency and longest queue times. Identify these tasks and consider the reasons for their delays. Higher flow efficiency supports faster, smoother delivery.
Monitor how your flow efficiency trend moves over time
The Average Flow Efficiency widget above the graph shows your workflow’s average flow efficiency percentage and how it changes over time. Ideally, the trend line should remain steady or increase slightly.
Reducing inactive time improves overall cycle time. Wait time is usually the easiest and least expensive area to investigate first.
Adjust your flow efficiency percent range
Use the ‘Percent range’ control in the sidebar to remove selected percentage ranges from the Flow Efficiency Chart.
Use the percent range filter when you do not want to track edge cases, such as tasks with 0% or 100% flow efficiency.
Export the filtered data shown in this chart as a CSV file.
What to look for
Tasks below 15% flow efficiency
Tasks with the lowest flow efficiency appear on the left side of the chart. Any task below 15% flow efficiency is a good candidate for examination.
High cycle time and low flow efficiency
Work items in the top-left area have the highest cycle time and lowest flow efficiency. These are the best opportunities for improvement.
The 15% to 40% benchmark
The industry standard says flow efficiency between 15% and 40% is good, and above 40% is considered exceptional.
Kanban Practitioners, Here’s How to Improve Flow Efficiency Analysis
What decisions it helps you make
- Decide which workflow states are working states and which are queue states so you can measure flow efficiency.
- Identify tasks with the lowest flow efficiency and examine the reasons for their delays.
- Check whether the Average Flow Efficiency trend remains steady or increases slightly.
- Investigate wait time first when looking for process improvements.
- Decide whether to exclude edge cases such as tasks with 0% or 100% flow efficiency.
Related charts
Cycle Time Breakdown
Open the Cycle Time Breakdown Chart to identify the workflow state that takes the longest time.
Cumulative Flow Diagram
Open the Cumulative Flow Diagram to reveal bottlenecks. An expanding queue-state band indicates that too many tasks are waiting and the team may be struggling with demand.
See these analytics with your own delivery data.
Connect your existing delivery data and start exploring your flow.