Flow Distribution: What It Is, How It Compares to DevOps Metrics, etc.

Flow distribution helps you follow and prioritize different tasks. That way, you avoid bottlenecks, reduce wait times, and deliver value consistently. 

But it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Combining flow distribution with other flow and Agile metrics is key to getting the bigger picture. 

That’s what this article teaches you. We’ll: 

• Explain what flow distribution is starting from the concept of flow. 
• Review the benefits of following this flow metric 
• Compare it with other DevOps metrics
• Show you practical case studies and key uses

Let’s begin.

Insider tip: Use Axify to track all your metrics in one dashboard so you can meet deadlines and expectations consistently while also keeping your team happy.

What Is Flow?

Flow is a concept in the Agile methodology. As its name suggests, it refers to the smooth, continuous movement of work items through development. 

The goal is to maintain a good flow.

That means your software delivery team can complete tasks quickly and with fewer interruptions. In a well-maintained flow, work moves steadily from one stage to the next without piling up at any point. 

You can do that by following flow metrics and making the necessary adjustments.

That brings us to the next point.

What Are Flow Metrics?

Flow metrics follow how well work items are moving through the development process. Here are some key flow metrics:

• Flow velocity: Measures the number of work items completed in a specific time period.
• Flow time: Tracks the total time it takes for workflow items to move from start to finish.
• Flow load: Indicates the number of work items in progress at any given time.
• Flow efficiency: Compares the time spent actively working on tasks versus total time
• Flow distribution: Analyzes the types of work being done and how they are balanced across different categories.

Insider tip: Read this in-depth article to better understand flow metrics, their uses, and how they compare to other DevOps metrics.

What Is Flow Distribution in Agile?

Flow Distribution helps you visualize how much work is allocated to each type of work item, such as features, bugs, and technical debt. This metric enables you to understand how your team's effort is distributed, allowing you to see, for example, how much time and resources you dedicate to creating new value versus fixing issues. 

In some cases, you can even translate this metric into financial terms. For instance, if 40% of your team's work is spent on bugs, 40% of the budget was allocated to addressing bugs. 

Insider tip: Axify lets you follow a similar metric – issue-type time investment. Our KPI helps you understand whether you focus too much on one type of work and neglect others. As a result, you can address all your priorities and tasks without creating imbalances that slow down your progress.

Flow Distribution: Benefits and Key Uses

Flow distribution offers several specific benefits as part of the Flow approach to software delivery:

• Balanced workload: Tracking flow distribution lets you check that no single type of task—like new features or bug fixes—dominates your workload. This balance helps you prevent burnout and ensures that all necessary work gets done.
• Improved prioritization: Flow distribution helps you see where your focus is currently and adjust priorities as needed. Therefore, you’re not overlooking urgent issues, such as critical bugs or technical debt, while developing new features.
• Increased efficiency: When your team maintains a balanced flow, you reduce the likelihood of bottlenecks and delays. This leads to smoother, more predictable workflows and helps your team deliver on time.
• Better quality control: Keeping an eye on flow distribution is how you can ensure that quality-related tasks, like testing and maintenance, are not neglected. This contributes to a more stable and reliable product.
• Enhanced team collaboration: Flow distribution provides a clear view of what everyone is working on, meaning teams can coordinate better and avoid effort duplication. This transparency leads to more effective collaboration and communication.
• Long-term sustainability: Consistently monitoring and adjusting flow distribution lets you maintain a sustainable pace of work over the long term. That way, your team remains productive and motivated.

Key Uses of Flow Distribution for Different Teams

• Beginner agile teams: If your team is new to agile, flow distribution is a guide to managing your workload effectively. You can track how much effort is going into different types of tasks and learn to prioritize better. As a result, you can build a strong foundation in agile practices. 
  • Pro tip: Always add a productivity item in each sprint and allocate 10% of your time toward it.
• Swift agile teams: For fast-paced teams, maintaining momentum is key. Flow distribution helps ensure that your focus remains balanced—not just on pushing out new features but also on essential maintenance and addressing technical debt. For instance, an effective team would spend 60% of their time delivering new value and 10% on routine maintenance or “keeping the lights on.” By closely monitoring your flow distribution, you can quickly spot outliers—such as an increase in bugs—and make necessary adjustments to keep your workflow smooth and your output consistent.
• Large organizations: In bigger companies with multiple teams, effective planning and resource allocation are crucial. By monitoring flow distribution across teams, you can ensure that resources are being invested as planned each quarter. Tracking this distribution sprint after sprint provides visibility into whether your plan or roadmap is on track. That way, you can quickly identify if adjustments are needed to maintain alignment and efficiency.

Insider Tip: Integrate Axify for Effective Flow Distribution

A tool like Axify can be a game changer to make the most out of flow distribution. Axify’s real-time dashboards let you inspect your throughput  and its distribution for all of your teams.

• For beginner teams: Axify can simplify the learning curve by providing visual insights into your flow distribution, making it easier to understand where adjustments are needed. You can integrate Axify with other Agile delivery metrics platforms, like Jira, GitHub, and GitLab. This will reduce any learning curve and give you a bird's-eye view of key metrics in your team.
• Swift agile teams: Use Axify’s objectives to ensure your high-speed work aligns with broader objectives. The result is a balanced distribution, even at a fast pace. Plus, you can use Axify’s Team Wellbeing Tracker to create a healthy organizational culture where everyone thrives. That way, you avoid burnout and make sure the team collaborates efficiently.

• Large organizations: Leverage Axify’s ability to provide a unified view across multiple teams. That way, you can ensure that everyone stays on track and that no area of work is neglected. You can also use our Software Delivery Forecasting to optimize your software deliveries and meet your goals.

Basically, Axify creates visibility seamlessly for all teams.

Flow Distribution vs Other DevOps Metrics

Flow metrics and DevOps metrics both play crucial roles in agile development, but they focus on different aspects of the process. 

Flow metrics measure the efficiency and effectiveness of work processes by tracking the progress, speed, and balance of tasks. As such, they help your team ensure that all necessary tasks are addressed. 

Agile software delivery metrics like velocity, throughput, and cycle time measure the speed and efficiency of work. Together, they provide a comprehensive view of team performance.

Let’s see how these metrics stack up against each other.

Flow Distribution vs. Velocity

Velocity measures how fast developers write, edit, and deliver top-notch code. 

Flow distribution adds another layer of insight by examining the types of work being done. Analyzing both metrics together helps you maintain a balanced focus on features, bug fixes, technical debt, and other important areas.

Solution: Flow distribution, on the other hand, provides a deeper insight by categorizing the work completed into different types. This categorization allows you to understand how your efforts are distributed across various areas. 

Basically:

• Velocity tells you how much work is getting done. 
• Flow distribution shows whether the right balance of work is being done. 

This unique edge helps you avoid the trap of only chasing high velocity at the expense of critical maintenance or quality tasks.

Flow Distribution vs. Throughput

Throughput is a common software delivery metric. It measures the number of work items a team completes within a specific timeframe. As you can see, this metric is similar to velocity, but it’s typically used in continuous delivery contexts. 

Throughput is useful for tracking how efficiently an Agile delivery team is processing work. Together with flow distribution, it will give you a holistic view of your team’s workflow.

Solution: Flow distribution complements throughput by providing context to the numbers. 

While throughput tells you how many items were completed, flow distribution explains what those items were. This distinction is important because a high throughput might look good on the surface, but if the work is overly focused on one area, such as bugs, other critical aspects might be neglected. Flow distribution ensures that throughput reflects a well-rounded effort, leading to better overall outcomes.

Insider tip: Axify is an essential tool with a broad application if you’re looking to balance flow distribution with other DevOps metrics like velocity, throughput, and cycle time. Axify’s real-time dashboards and data visualization capabilities give you a comprehensive view of both the quantity and quality of work being done.

For instance, you can use Axify to monitor your velocity and throughput. Axify’s Value Stream Mapping feature further enhances this by visually mapping out the entire development process. Therefore, your team can identify any imbalances in how work is distributed, set their priorities, and address bottlenecks.

Basically, the main benefit of Axify is getting a more holistic view of your performance, improving speed and quality and helping you in your journey to continuous delivery. This leads to a more sustainable, efficient, and effective development process.

Axify can empower you with the necessary tools and insights to make complex decisions. 

If you want to balance competing priorities effectively and reach all your business goals while keeping your team happy, book a virtual tour with us to see exactly how Axify can help.