A Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) shows workflow changes over time and provides insights into issues regarding throughput and variability. It's a stack area chart that visualizes ongoing work and helps to find out how much work is done, ongoing, and in the backlog, how long each task typically takes,…A Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) shows workflow changes over time and provides insights into issues regarding throughput and variability. It's a stack area chart that visualizes ongoing work and helps to find out how much work is done, ongoing, and in the backlog, how long each task typically takes, and whether there’s a risk of delay due to increasing work pressure. Understanding these parameters allows the team to address bottlenecks, smooth out workloads, and reduce wait times.
Guide: Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) for PSM-I Scrum Metrics
The Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) is a highly crucial metric in Scrum.
Why is it important? CFD offers a visual guide for managing project workflow, helps to identify bottlenecks during the process, and provides information about work status and work progress over time. It's a powerful tool to understand, predict, and manage work in progress.
What is it? A Cumulative Flow Diagram is a graphical tool used in queuing theory and process analysis. It shows the workflow of various stages over time. This diagram is divided into different lanes representing different stages of the workflow. Each area's width corresponds to the amount of work at that stage.
How does it work? The diagram provides a concise visual representation of three key project parameters- scope, schedule and resources. An ideal CFD has bands (each band corresponding to a stage) that are consistent in size. If the width becomes wider at any point, it's an indication of growing work in progress or slowdown. If it becomes narrow, it shows that work is being completed quicker than new work is coming in.
Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Cumulative Flow Diagram To answer questions regarding CFD, remember that an increasing width of a band signifies a bottleneck or issues with productivity. A decreasing width often indicates effectiveness and faster completion of tasks. In case of overlaps between stages, it can indicate an issue with capacity. Hence, always interpret a CFD taking into account the complete picture and not isolated parts of the flow. Practice interpreting different types of Cumulative Flow Diagrams for a variety of scenarios, as doing so would prepare you well for correctly interpreting a CFD in the exam context.
You are reviewing a Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) for your Agile project, and you notice that the width of the 'Testing' section has been increasing rapidly. What should you do?
Question 2
Your Agile project has extremely narrow bands in the Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD). What is the most likely cause of this issue?
Question 3
You are a Scrum Master and notice that the colors in your Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) are overlapping, making the CFD challenging to interpret. What should you do?
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