I saw a definition of Throughput yesterday:
"maximising the amount of product or service that our organisation delivers within a specific period." 🎯
A measure of Progress
At Umano.tech, we think of Progress as an agility outcome, an attribute of high performance. We group Throughput with other metrics such as Completion Rate, Work in Progress and Hidden Work to give teams a visual read on what drives their progress, so they know where they're at and what they can do about it.
Quantity v Quality or both in balance?
It carries a bias to quantity, rather than quality. But I don't think it needs to be at the expense of quality. Here, I refer to quality in the sense that you're working on the right things that matter most to your customers AND in the sense of 'working software', and you're not just pushing crap through your value stream that's buggy.
Focus and effort
I think Throughput can also give teams insight into their strategic focus. By looking at the type of work items completed (delivery teams specifically), teams can view effort spent on building new features vs remediating and refactoring. It can also help answer the question 'have we got the balance right between new features and tech debt?'
🤩 Do your teams think Throughput is a good, or even critical measure of performance?
🧐 When do you use Throughput?
🤓 How do you use Throughput?
Chris
(Shoutout to Possessed Photography on Unspalsh for the image!)
