Measuring solution delivery
In Chapter 4, Leveraging Lean Flow to Keep the Work Moving, we looked at practices to establish and maintain Lean flow. We need metrics to evaluate whether we have achieved that Lean flow and whether we can be predictable in our commitments.
Common metrics to evaluate Lean flow are outlined in the following list:
- Cycle time
- WIP
- Throughput
- Blockers or bottlenecks in the process
A useful tool to obtain these metrics is a cumulative flow diagram. We will take a close look at a cumulative flow diagram to find these metrics.
Cycle time
For a value stream, cycle time is the time it takes for a piece of work to be delivered after it has been accepted and goes through the entire development process.
We saw in Chapter 4, Leveraging Lean Flow to Keep the Work Moving, the many factors that can affect cycle time. These factors included too much WIP, large batch sizes, high utilization, and variability.
Another factor that can...
