Tracking Kanban Team Productivity: Understanding Throughput and Capacity

Question

Hello - I am working on assisting my Kanban team in grasping the number of PBI's they move into the "To Do" column and how many they mark as "Done" (aka resolve) every week. While a velocity report on a sprint board makes this straightforward, I'm wondering if theres a comparable method to gauge a team's capacity for adding and completing new items on a weekly basis

Bill Sheboy · Accepted Answer

Hi @Sergey.Blyakhor

Short answer: there are built-in reports and dashboard gadgets that can help somewhat, but your team may need external reporting or marketplace addons for more advanced analysis.

For more details...

As a disclaimer, I do not work for Atlassian or any marketplace vendor.  I have tried to solve the same challenges you describe while supporting teams using Kanban methods, and so have a bit of experience trying to use the built-in features of Jira.

With Atlassian's interpretation of a Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD), your team can observe arrival rate, WIP, and throughput...for a while.  However, and in my opinion, that version of the report is neither scaled well nor does it have options for analysis.  Please look here to learn more about it: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/view-and-understand-the-cumulative-flow-diagram/  Throughput could also be checked numerically with exported data, or dashboard gadgets to count completed items over time.

With Atlassian's interpretation of a Control Chart, you can visualize lead time, cycle time, and other patterns of flow.  Again, there are limitations of this report, but it can help for small throughput levels with already stable cycle times.  Please look here to learn about that one: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/view-and-understand-the-control-chart/

I suggest first trying the built-in reports to see how they meet your needs.  And perhaps look at dashboard gadgets (built-in, or free / paid from the marketplace) to learn what may also help.

Kind regards,
Bill

Gizem Gökçe (OBSS) · Accepted Answer

Hello @Sergey.Blyakhor ,

I suggest you to read my article on achieving operational excellence.

I think the application and the methods that I've talked about in my article will be also useful for your team.

Revealing Operational Excellence: Identifying Bottlenecks through Metrics like Cycle Time, Lead Time

Hope it helps!

Gizem

Mehmet A _Bloompeak_ · Accepted Answer

Hi @Sergey.Blyakhor

Cycle time and lead time are two parameters that are often used to measure productivity. If you consider using these parameters, you can have a look at Cycle Time and Lead Time in Jira: Productivity Measurement with Two Critical Parameters article.

Hope it helps.