What are Flow Metrics?

Flow metrics are measures that help teams understand how work moves through a system. They focus on speed, predictability, bottlenecks, and the amount of work in progress, rather than only measuring whether people are busy.

Common flow metrics include cycle time, throughput, work in progress, work item age, and flow efficiency. Together, these measures help teams see where work is waiting, where demand exceeds capacity, and whether delivery is becoming more or less predictable.

Used well, flow metrics support better conversations about the system of work. They help teams improve delivery without turning measurement into blame or reducing people to productivity numbers.

For a practical self-paced entry point into visualizing and managing flow, see Getting Started With Kanban Journaling.

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