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It explains what a CFD measures over time—work states, lead time, cycle time, work in progress, and scope changes—and distinguishes CFDs from burn-up and burn-down charts. The guide then walks through how to build a CFD, read the stacked area chart, and interpret healthy versus problematic flow.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":30,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/technology/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/escape-velocity-better-metrics-for-agile-teams/657290/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/escape-velocity-better-metrics-for-agile-teams/657290.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"vwvw","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-26",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is a cumulative flow diagram (CFD) used for in agile teams?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"A CFD shows the quantity of work in each state over time, helping teams determine lead times, cycle times, work in progress, and changes in scope.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How do you create a basic CFD in a spreadsheet?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Create columns for each step/state (at minimum To Do, Doing, Done), total the work in each state at a regular interval (often daily), and plot a stacked area graph from those totals.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What do lines and areas in a CFD indicate about team health?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Consistent, smoothly moving areas typically suggest a team delivers accepted work at a predictable pace. The diagram alone cannot reveal issues like code quality or morale.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},657290,1793052082,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":29,"category_name":30,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":41},3985747874149,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/3a001161165b4dc3d9e?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1790129441039064114","Escape Velocity  \nBetter Metrics for Agile Teams  \nDoc Norton  \nEscape Velocity  \nBetter Metrics for Agile Teams Doc Norton  \nISBN 978-0-578-64483-7  \nࢳis is a Leanpub book. Leanpub empowers authors and publishers with the Lean Publishing process. Lean Publishing is the act of publishing an in-progress ebook using lightweight tools and many iterations to get reader feedbaࢤ, pivot until you have the right book and build traction once you do.  \n© 2017-2020 Doc Norton  \nCumulative Flow Diagrams  \nA Cumulative flow diagram (CFD) is a simple but very powerful tool used in queuing theory that helps to show the flow of work through a system. A CFD shows the quantity of work in a given state over time, which allows us to determine lead times, cycles times, Work in Progress, and changes in scope. I’ve often heard cumulative flow diagrams referred to as an alternative to the burn up chart, which is an alternative to the burn down chart. Just as email is an alternative to a printed letter which is an alternative to a hand written letter when I want to send the same urgent message to 50 people. All of them get the job done. One of them is so demonstrably better, the comparison suggests a strong penchant for less efficient tools, or suggests more than a bit of naivety.  \nMaking a CFD  \nTo make a cumulative flow diagram is relatively easy. More and more agile tracking tools offer a CFD report so you might not need to generate your own. But, in case you ever do, let’s walk through the basic steps.  \nJust about any spreadsheet software can be used to create a CFD. On a sheet, create a column for each step in your software process. The least you’d need would be To Do, Doing, and Done. I recommend a more detailed set of steps, especially for newer teams. Be honest about the steps most stories go through. If stories go through grooming before development, and there is a formal testing phase after development with a formal approval process to promote to production, I’d consider making columns for all of the action items as well as the wait states between the action items. We’ll demonstrate this in a bit.  \nEach day, or at some other regular interval, total the work in each of the states you’re tracking. I recommend once per day. If you do  \nOther Metrics 96  \na daily stand-up meeting, the end of the meeting is a great time to run your totals as the board is going to be as accurate as it is going to be for that given day. Record the totals in the spreadsheet and create a stacked area graph against them.  \nFor our example team, we’re going to say they have a backlog from which they pull work into development. After development, they have a formal testing phase followed by formal business approval and deployment into production.  \nFor this team, I’d create a sheet that looks like the following:  \nCumulative Flow Diagram Data-Empty  \nYou might notice that the columns are in the opposite order of the actual flow of work. This is due to the way a stacked area graph works in most of the software I use. Your mileage may vary-it is a quick experiment to figure it out.  \nThen, as mentioned, fill in the values for each day (or whatever interval you select) . Your stacked area graph will show the flow of work in a simple but useful way.  \nOther Metrics 97  \nCumulative Flow Diagram Data-Populated  \nA Simple Cumulative Flow Diagram  \nReading a CFD  \nThe above is a relatively simple cumulative flow diagram. The Y axis represents the amount of work in queue and the X axis represents time. Each color area on the chart represents a stage in the team’s flow of work. Work starts in the form of stories in the  backlog. As the team works on a story, the major stages are   \nOther Metrics 98  \ndevelopment,  testing, and  business approval. Once approved, they are deployed into  production.  \nThis first example is perhaps a diagram from a team in Lake Wobegon ³¹ where the scope never increases, there is no re-work, and everything flows through at a smooth even rate.  \nTh","cbCaipAhyo4dAVid","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipAhyo4dAVid","pdf",2108642,12,"English","# Cumulative Flow Diagrams\n## Making a CFD\n## Reading a CFD\n## To Do and Done\n## Work In Process\n## Lead and Cycle Time","[{\"question\":\"What is a cumulative flow diagram (CFD) used for in agile teams?\",\"answer\":\"A CFD shows the quantity of work in each state over time, helping teams determine lead times, cycle times, work in progress, and changes in scope.\"},{\"question\":\"How do you create a basic CFD in a spreadsheet?\",\"answer\":\"Create columns for each step/state (at minimum To Do, Doing, Done), total the work in each state at a regular interval (often daily), and plot a stacked area graph from those totals.\"},{\"question\":\"What do lines and areas in a CFD indicate about team health?\",\"answer\":\"Consistent, smoothly moving areas typically suggest a team delivers accepted work at a predictable pace. The diagram alone cannot reveal issues like code quality or morale.\"}]","Escape Velocity - Better Metrics for Agile Teams | PDF",1792977042]