How do you measure flow speed?

Flow speed in Kanban is measured by how fast tasks move through the system - from the moment they start to the moment they finish. Three key metrics are used for this: Throughput, Cycle Time, and Lead Time.

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#1. Throughput

Shows how many tasks the team completes over a given period - for example, a week or a month. If 20 tasks are closed in a week, throughput = 20. A growing metric means the flow is speeding up, but it is important to watch that quality does not suffer.

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#2. Cycle Time

Measures how much time a task spends in active work - from the moment it is "In Progress" to "Done". The average value across tasks shows how efficiently the flow is moving. The more stable the cycle time, the more predictable the process.

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#3. Lead Time

Shows how much time passes from when a task appears until it is finished. It includes waiting, prioritization, and the work itself, it is the customer's point of view: how long they wait for the result.

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#How to use it

• Track the metrics over time, trends matter more than one-off spikes.
• Visualize the flow on a Cumulative Flow Diagram, it shows stability and bottlenecks.
• Reduce WIP if cycle time grows, it means the flow is overloaded.

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#Conclusion

Flow speed is measured by the number of completed tasks and how long they take to move through the system. The shorter the cycle time and the more stable the throughput, the smoother and more predictable the flow.