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Complete Details on Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD)

Complete Details on Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD)

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Indeed, as a Project Manager, you might have made your team focus on individual tasks. But, if not your team members, at least, you should have a bigger picture of the project, isn’t it? Only then, you can understand what is working and what is not. Also, when you have a bigger picture of the project, you can keep track of the delivery. Even, you can know in advance whether the project delivery will take place on time. This is where a Cumulative Flow Diagram can help you.

Cumulative Flow Diagram – A Basic Understanding:

As a Project Manager, it would be good if you could visualize your tasks. If you could understand at which stage of the process your team is presently working in, you can plan the final delivery accordingly. Also, when you get this visualization, you can identify how fast your team is working. If you feel that things are going a bit slow, you can make the appropriate changes to meet the targets on time. Thanks to the Cumulative Flow Diagram as all these things can be made with ease with this diagram.

A Cumulative Flow Diagram shortly called CFD is a data tool that is used in Kanban methodology and will help you know the progress of the project and keep an eye on all tasks as they get through different stages. In short, you can visualize the progress of the project with ease with CFD.

CFD – The Knowledge Base:

With CFD, you can get to know how tasks mount up over time. Above all, it will show this information with distribution along the stages of the process. CFD is actually a graph, which is built using different colored bands. Each of these bands denotes a task that is gathered in different columns. One column is represented by one color. In other words, from each band, you can get to know how many tasks are waiting at each stage of the process. You can get to know this information at any given point in time. Here, the time is denoted in horizontal value. You can get to know this from the graph below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Kanbantool


In short, with CFD, you can get to know the present progress against backlogs. Also, you can know about the work done, work presently in progress, and also the throughput over the cycle time. When you look at a CFD, you should look at three important parameters. They are the throughput, the cycle time, and the Work in Progress. When you are provided with this knowledge at a simple view of the graph, you can plan things accordingly. Your goal will be to deliver the project on time with quality as the top priority. In this path, when you know the progress from the CFD, you can make the appropriate changes required to achieve the outcome expected on time.

Reading A CFD – Explained:

The good thing about CFD is that you can use it in any work methodology you follow. Let us consider that you use cumulative flow diagram SAFe, here is how you should read the graph:

The Cumulative Flow Diagram SAFe denotes the number of tasks in every stage of your workflow. You can spot this information at any given period along the timeline of the process. In this graph, you can see tasks depicted along the vertical axis. You can read the process timeline on the horizontal axis.

The bands with different colors denote the appropriate stages of the workflow. From the bands, you can know the number of tasks in every stage of the process. You should read either sideways or in an upward direction in proportion to the number of tasks in a given stage.  When you read the top line of each brand, you can know the point at which each task reaches the appropriate stage of your Kanban board. You can also know when they leave from the bottom line. As a Project Manager, you will be interested in maintaining a steady workflow. In this case, the distance between these two lines should be consistent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


In the example above, you can get to see the amount of work in progress at a given point in time. It is denoted by the vertical distance between the ‘to do’ and ‘done’ bands. When the Work in Progress is  higher, it means that there is more work in progress. You can see the column called “done” at the bottom of the graph. With this graph, you can know the amount of work your team completes in a given period. You can know the average throughput of your team from the slope of the band between two points.

Common Patterns In CFD:

When you look at the cumulative flow diagram Scaled Agile, you should check whether the pattern of the chart shows an upward trend. Also, it is better to ensure that the bands stay very close in width. When you find this pattern, it means that your team is delivering work at a stable pace. As against this rule, the done band should widen over time. When you see this pattern, it is an indication that your team has delivered more items. However, all projects do not move forward in the same way. So, there are chances that you might not be able to achieve an upward slope. When this happens, it is an indication that there are issues within your workstream. Even, you can judge issues in the flow with the width of the bands. When you show these indications, you can take corrective actions. Some of the common trends you can come across in the Scaled Agile Framework cumulative flow diagram:

                Flat Slope:

When you see that the cumulative flow diagram shows a flat slope, it is an indication that no work has been done. You need not think this pattern to be alarming. The reason is that it can show up when your team has no workdays and during holidays. But, if these are not reasons, you will have to do a closer look at  why nothing has been done. Is any team member missing or is there an issue with production servers? Finding answers to these questions and rectifying the issue will help you take out your team from a flat slope.

                Widening Bands:

When you see that the bands widen in the CFV, it is an indication that the rate of items entering is more than the ones exiting. In other words, entry of items is faster at this state as compared to exit. When you see this pattern, you should identify the reason for items holding up. So, appropriate corrective action should be taken for recovery.
 

                “To do” band wider than “Done” Band:

When you see this happen in the graph, it is an indication that your team is not in a position to consume the work at a faster pace as you are adding them. This can happen due to insufficient information on the tasks your team should work on. Otherwise, it can also mean that you have overestimated the capacity of the team.

                Narrowing Bands:

You might think that when widening band is not good narrowing band is a good indication. But, in reality, it is an indication that your team gets lesser work  than what they are capable of. There might be a requirement to reallocate team members. When you do this, you can balance out the workload.

Use CFD In SAFe for Flow Load Metric:

If you are wondering where to use CFD in SAFe, you should remember one thing. You can use it as one of the SAFe metrics. How? You might have heard that flow load is one of the metrics in SAFe. It denotes the number of items that are presently in the system. SAFe recommends that to keep your system healthy, you should have a limited number of active items. In other words, you should take steps to limit the work in progress. When you do this, according to the 6th principle of SAFe, you can ensure a quicker flow of items through the system. To measure it, you can use a Cumulative Flow Diagram.

This tool will help you visualize the flow load of work over a specific time. You can get to know the flow of work in a given state with the help of CFD recommends SAFe.  It will also help you know the rate at which items are brought into the work queue. This is denoted with the arrival curve in the image below. You can also know the rate at which they are completed, which you can get from the departure curve. At any given point, the flow load is the distance vertically between the curve at the specific point:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Source: ScaledAgile

 

Simpliaxis is one of the leading professional certification training providers in the world offering multiple courses related to SAFe methodologies. We offer numerous SAFe related courses such as Leading SAFe® (6.0) Certification Training, SAFe® 6.0 Scrum Master (SSM) Certification Training, SAFe®6.0 Product Owner/Product Manager Certification Training,SAFe® Advanced Scrum Master (SASM) Certification Training, Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) Certification Training, SAFe® 6.0 Architects Certification Training, SAFe® for Teams Certification Training, SAFe® 6.0 DevOps Certification Training, SAFe® Agile Product Management Training (SAFe® APM) Certification Training and much more. Simpliaxis delivers training to both individuals and corporate groups through instructor-led classroom and online virtual sessions.


Conclusion:

Cumulative Flow Diagram SAFe will be of great help in any situation, where there is a need for providing a clear overview of the progress of the project. You can get this picture through the applicable stages. Even, it will help you identify the hindrances in the work progress and can rectify them and can take your project forward towards success.

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