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Cumulative Flow Diagrams for Workflow Visualization

4 posts · Jan 2006 – May 2017

What this trail covers

This thread tracks the evolution of Cumulative Flow Diagrams (CFDs) for visualizing work in progress and tracking workflow states within a Scrum development process. It details how to create and use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to generate CFDs, including defining states, updating daily counts, and interpreting the resulting charts to identify bottlenecks and measure team capacity. The thread also touches upon integrating this approach with Visual Studio Team System and the Team Foundation Server. This post introduces new dashboard widgets for Visual Studio Team Services built on the Analytics Service, including Lead Time, Cycle Time, and Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) widgets, providing enhanced insights into team processes and delivery metrics.

All Microsoft trails
  1. Public Preview: New Widgets for Visual Studio Team ServicesIntroduced three new dashboard widgets for Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) built on the new Analytics Service (AX): Lead Time, Cycle Time, and Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD). These widgets provide enhanced insights into team processes and delivery metrics by visualizing work item creation to completion time (Lead Time), time spent in development (Cycle Time), and work item flow through Kanban board columns over time (CFD). The post also announces the public preview of these widgets and outlines future planned widgets like Velocity, Burndown, Burnup, and Trend/Glide.
  2. Update your Overview and Progress reports to support the Portfolio backlogsThis post addresses an issue with existing Overview and Progress reports in Team Foundation Server (TFS) where they did not correctly roll up information for backlog items that were children of the new Portfolio backlog work item types introduced in TFS 2013. It provides updated reporting logic and a PowerShell script to fix this issue for team projects, leveraging TFS Power Tools. It also offers instructions for manually uploading updated RDL files to the reporting server.
  3. Questions about using CFD with Visual Studio Team SystemThis post addresses specific user questions regarding the integration of Cumulative Flow Diagrams (CFDs) with Visual Studio Team System (VSTS). It clarifies that VSTS integrates with Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, allowing teams to continue using their existing SharePoint portals and reporting websites. Regarding email notifications for work item changes, it confirms that VSTS supports project alerts but notes that the granularity of these alerts is not adjustable by default, though customization is possible with the Visual Studio SDK. The post also confirms that VSTS supports linking documents to work items and building reports against historical activity, indicating that mapping product requirements to sprint backlog items is achievable through proper setup.
  4. Using Cumulative Flow Diagrams in User EducationThis post provides a practical example of using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to generate Cumulative Flow Diagrams (CFDs) for tracking work in progress within a Scrum development process. It details the structure of the spreadsheet with Backlog, CFD, and Stats worksheets, explains how the ScrumMaster updates it daily, and highlights the benefits of CFDs for visualizing bottlenecks and measuring team capacity. It also offers guidance on creating and customizing CFDs in Excel and discusses potential integration with Visual Studio Team System.