If you're seeking alternatives to the Flow Framework, you're in the right place.
While the trademarked flow dashboard provides a solid foundation for tracking flow metrics, it’s not your only option.
Several tools, like Axify, Jira Align, and ServiceNow, offer comparable and arguably even enhanced solutions.
In this article, we'll explore:
Let’s dive in.
Dr. Mik Kersten introduced the Flow Framework in 2018. It is a methodology developed to help organizations transition from project-based to product-oriented value streams.
You track so-called flow metrics that help you optimize software delivery from idea to deployment. You get valuable insights into bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and delays, so it’s easier for your team to improve the flow of business value and deliver high-quality software faster.
This begs the question:
While the Flow Framework offers a comprehensive methodology, it's worth noting that Planview now holds its trademark. As a result, it is tightly integrated with their proprietary software. This exclusivity can lead to limited flexibility because a framework is, by definition, rigid.
Besides, businesses with unique toolchains or specific needs may find that other software delivery toolchains offer better integration and customization options.
The good news is that flow metrics—the core concept of the Flow Framework—are free for everyone.
These KPIs can be followed and analyzed with other tools.
For example, Axify provides flow metrics tracking, resource allocation, and team health tracking, often at a lower cost and with more adaptable features.
But before we get into Flow Framework alternatives, let’s look at flow metrics and why you should monitor them.
Flow metrics are key indicators that measure how effectively work moves through the software delivery process. Here are the core flow metrics:
Flow metrics give a real-time snapshot of how efficiently a development team operates, pinpointing bottlenecks and areas for improvement. These metrics are essential because they:
In both Agile and DevOps contexts, flow metrics provide the feedback loops necessary for teams to make data-driven decisions and optimize their software delivery toolchain. Here’s how:
Agile teams: Flow metrics complement Agile practices by providing insights into how work moves through user stories and sprints. Agile teams can ensure that work is delivered incrementally, aligning with Agile’s goal of continuous improvement. You can also integrate flow metrics into Scrum events, such as daily stand-ups and sprint reviews. The point is to ensure that work progresses as planned and identify impediments.
DevOps teams: Flow metrics support DevOps best practices by tracking how efficient your teams’ development lifecycle is. This allows you to identify potential delays and align with DevOps' faster delivery and better collaboration goals.
Let’s dive into the section you’re really interested in.
Axify is a comprehensive metrics dashboard that lets you get a bird's eye view of your team’s performance by following the same workflow logic.
Flow velocity and Throughput in Axify track the number of tasks finished during a specific time period. The key difference here is that Axify’s Throughput offers more flexibility for DevOps teams aiming to increase delivery speed while maintaining a steady workflow. The focus is not just on speed but also on balancing workloads across the delivery value stream.
Flow time tracks the entire journey of a work item from ideation to completion, including any wait times. This is almost identical to cycle time in Axify, which measures how long a flow item takes to complete from start to finish.
The critical difference is that Axify’s cycle time can also be applied to specific stages within the workflow, offering more granular control over what you monitor. Therefore, you can zoom in on particular bottlenecks within your process.
Both Axify and the Flow Framework share this metric. In Axify, flow efficiency measures the ratio of active work time to total cycle time in the overall process. By contrast, this metric measures active vs wait time in the original flow framework. The goal is to see how much time you spend working on flow items compared to waiting stages like code review or approval processes. This helps you find and implement solutions to reduce delays and improve workflow efficiency. As a result, you can deliver high-quality software faster.
Flow load measures the number of flow items in progress at any given time. Axify replaces this with WIP (Work in Progress), which tracks the same concept but focuses more on balancing the number of ongoing tasks to avoid bottlenecks.
Axify doesn’t track flow distribution directly, but it offers a similar metric: Issue Type & Time Investment. This KPI helps you track the types of work your team is focusing on (e.g., feature development vs. bug fixes) and whether there’s an imbalance in how time is allocated across various tasks. Monitoring it helps you prioritize the right tasks to avoid delays in software delivery and get better business outcomes.
Jira Align offers a comprehensive set of metrics that mirror the Flow Framework's core metrics, focusing on enterprise-level Agile teams and planning. Here's how Jira Align compares:
ServiceNow’s Agile Development suite also provides flow metrics alternatives, especially for enterprise software delivery. Its key metrics and features support DevOps teams and agile workflows:
Besides, ServiceNow has the Flow Designer feature, which uses natural language descriptions to help even non-technical members automate tedious tasks.
Axify doesn’t just track metrics indiscriminately. Our platform has many features that combine well to streamline your workflow and improve efficiency.
In this guide, we reviewed the top 3 alternatives to the Flow Framework. They all have pros and cons, so here’s how to make the right decision.
The world of Flow Framework alternatives is broad. So, first things first: consider your team’s needs. If you focus on streamlining the entire value stream and optimizing flow metrics, choose a metrics dashboard to track performance. On the other hand, a project planning tool would be better if you need to manage large projects with an emphasis on Agile principles and coordination across teams.
Axify helps you track flow metrics, team performance, and resource allocation and integrates easily with a wide range of tools across the software delivery toolchain.
Similarly, Jira Align tracks Agile metrics and offers excellent integration with code repositories and popular project management tools like Jira Software. ServiceNow, on the other hand, offers workload balancing for teams needing more detailed work distribution management, making it a solid choice for larger enterprises that require extensive cross-department collaboration.
Jira Software offers a free version if you have a budget-conscious team or startup. However, free tools have limitations, especially in terms of analytics depth and scalability.
Axify is a paid but affordable solution. We offer a more intuitive interface with advanced features that ultimately save time and money.
Our VSM metrics help justify investments by providing precise financial projections and measurable ROI on process improvements. And we’re constantly adding new functionalities, such as the DevEx improvements feature.
While tools like Jira Align and ServiceNow offer comprehensive solutions for tracking flow metrics, Axify stands out as the more complete package.
Axify has solid alternatives to the Flow Framework's core metrics but goes beyond with predictive analytics, team well-being tracking, and value stream mapping to drive continuous improvement.
Book a demo today to discover how Axify can transform your team's efficiency.