What does "cumulative flow diagram" mean?

A Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) is a cumulative flow diagram that shows how tasks move through process stages over time. It helps see how stably the team is working and where delays appear.

#How the diagram is built

• X axis - time (days, weeks, sprints).
• Y axis - the total number of tasks.
• Each process stage (To Do, In Progress, Review, Done) is shown as a colored band. The wider the band, the more tasks are at that stage.

#What the CFD shows

1. Flow stability If the bands grow evenly and in parallel, the process is balanced. If one of the bands widens, a bottleneck is forming there.
2. WIP (Work In Progress) The distance between "To Do" and "Done" shows how many tasks are in progress at the same time.
3. Throughput The slope of the top "Done" line reflects the speed of completing tasks.
4. Cycle Time The horizontal distance between the "start" and "finish" of tasks shows how long completion takes.

#Example interpretation

• If "In Progress" grows faster than "Done", the team is not keeping up with finishing tasks.
• If all the bands move evenly, the flow is stable.
• If "steps" appear, the process has periods of idle time or sharp spikes in load.

#Conclusion

A Cumulative Flow Diagram is a tool for analyzing the stability and efficiency of flow. It shows where work is slowing down, how many tasks are in progress, and how predictable the process is.