Throughput
Throughput is one of important kanban metrics. It shows the amount of work done in a given period.
For example, a throughput of '10 per month' means that on average 10 tasks (or 10 Story points) go from commitment point to "Done" in a month.
When calculating throughput, only fully completed tasks are counted, and tasks that are still in progress are not included in the calculation.
Tracking throughput allows you to measure a team's performance and predict how much work it will be able to complete in the future.
How to read and understand a Throughput chart
The graph is a bar graph. It shows how many cards you create and make on a weekly or monthly basis.
The X-axis shows the periods. You can select 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 week.
The first column in each period is the cards that were created or came to your board during the specified period, the second column is the completed cards.
On the Y-axis the number of cards is marked.
*You may also measure the throughput not by the number of cards, but by the size of the tasks.
The cards in the column can be grouped by
type,
lane,
size,
responsible member,
owner,
tags,
custom properties, with the exception of Multi select and Multiline string.
Each grouping will be highlighted in color and counted separately.
This allows you to build a graph showing exactly what is important to you. This makes it easier to monitor the workflow and to keep track of problems.
How to customize the graph display
To get the information you need from the graph, apply the filters on the right-hand side of the screen:
Period – select the period for which you want to retrieve the data.
Group by – here you select how the cards will be grouped by in the columns. You can select 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 week.
Start column – you choose the board and the column that is the commitment point.
End column – this is usually the column with the type "Done", where the tasks are considered to be finished.
Y axis – here you can choose exactly how you will count the throughput. There are 2 options: by number of cards or by card size.
Group by – here you can define the criteria for how exactly the planned and completed tasks are divided, highlighted and counted.
Tags - this option allows you to include only cards with specific labels in the schedule.
Only ASAP cards – you can choose to include only urgent tasks into the report.
For example, you want to see how the throughput of each sprint that lasts 2 weeks has changed over the last 3 months. At the same time, you want to see which tasks from which tracks were performed. The filter setting would then look like this:
How to use throughput data
Throughput tracking allows teams to maintain a stable workflow.
Performance measurement
The team can measure its throughput over certain periods and compare the values. If the amount of completed work decreases from period to period - that is a signal that the team has some problem. If the number of completed tasks is rising or steady - there is nothing wrong with the state of the team.
Predicting performance
Having data on the amount of a certain type of work that the team has done in the previous periods, you can predict how much time you will need to do similar tasks in the future more accurately.
To make your processes more efficient, we recommend using this graph in conjunction with the Cycle time report and WIP limits (limiting work in progress)
One of the Kanban principles implies that teams work faster and more efficiently when they are not working on many tasks simultaneously, but put 100% effort into completing the started tasks to the "Done" stage.
Tracking the above metrics and using WIP limits contributes to this:
Throughput shows the number of tasks completed in a period.
Cycle time shows the average amount of time a team works on a task until it is completed.
A WIP limit prevents new tasks from starting until the previous task is completed. Typically a WIP limit is set based on the metrics listed above.
Together, these metrics can help teams work more efficiently, perform better and increase customer satisfaction.
How to download the report
You can download the graph in PNG, JPEG, SVG and PDF format.
To do this, click on the icon with the three lines in the top right corner of the chart and select the format you want:
