4 min lecture • Guide 556 of 877
How to Visualize Development Workflow Bottlenecks?
How to visualize development workflow bottlenecks?
Visualize bottlenecks using GitScrum's Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD), Project Age Analysis, and board WIP indicators. Bottlenecks appear as widening bands in CFD, high task age in specific columns, and WIP limit violations. Identifying bottlenecks early prevents 40% of delivery delays [Source: Flow Metrics Research 2024].
Bottleneck identification:
- View CFD - Check for widening bands
- Check age - Items stuck in columns
- Monitor WIP - Limits exceeded
- Observe board - Visual accumulation
- Analyze cause - Root cause analysis
- Fix - Add capacity or reduce flow
- Monitor - Verify improvement
CFD bottleneck signals
| Signal | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Widening band | Column accumulating |
| Flat Done area | Nothing completing |
| Stacked bands | Upstream blocked |
| Horizontal lines | Work stalled |
Age Analysis bottleneck signals
| Signal | Meaning |
|---|---|
| High average age | Column slow |
| Many old items | Capacity issue |
| Age outliers | Individual blockers |
| Increasing trend | Worsening problem |
Common development bottlenecks
| Bottleneck | Cause |
|---|---|
| Code Review | Not enough reviewers |
| Testing | QA capacity |
| Deployment | Manual process |
| Approval | Stakeholder availability |
| Dependencies | External team |
Bottleneck visualization tools
| Tool | Shows |
|---|---|
| CFD | Flow over time |
| Age Analysis | Item age per column |
| WIP indicators | Current overload |
| Board view | Real-time state |
Fixing bottlenecks
| Strategy | When to Use |
|---|---|
| Add capacity | Chronic bottleneck |
| Reduce WIP upstream | Limit input |
| Improve process | Slow steps |
| Parallelize | Independent work |
| Automate | Manual steps |
| Cross-train | Single points of failure |
WIP-based bottleneck management
| Observation | Action |
|---|---|
| Column at WIP limit | Don't add more |
| Column consistently full | Bottleneck indicator |
| Upstream building | Reduce upstream WIP |
| Downstream starved | Speed up bottleneck |
Weekly bottleneck review
| Check | Action |
|---|---|
| CFD trends | Identify growing bands |
| Age report | Find old items |
| WIP violations | Count occurrences |
| Team feedback | Hear pain points |
Bottleneck root causes
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Capacity | Not enough people |
| Skills | Missing expertise |
| Process | Inefficient steps |
| Dependencies | Waiting on others |
| Tools | Slow systems |
| Decisions | Approval delays |
Measuring bottleneck resolution
| Metric | Before/After |
|---|---|
| Column cycle time | Should decrease |
| CFD band width | Should stabilize |
| Item age | Should decrease |
| Flow efficiency | Should improve |
Preventing bottlenecks
| Practice | Implementation |
|---|---|
| Cross-training | Multiple people for each step |
| WIP limits | Control flow |
| Regular review | Weekly CFD analysis |
| Capacity planning | Balanced allocation |
| Automation | Remove manual steps |
Bottleneck escalation
| Severity | Action |
|---|---|
| Minor | Team addresses |
| Moderate | Lead/manager informed |
| Severe | Process change needed |
| Critical | Resource allocation |