Flow

Flow refers to the smooth and steady movement of work items through the different stages of the workflow process, from the initial Product Backlog to the finished product. A healthy flow is one where work items are started and completed at a steady and predictable rate, without long periods of wait time or significant variations in delivery times.

The concept of flow in Kanban is visualised on the Kanban board, representing the workflow stages a work item must pass through. In a Scrum with Kanban implementation, this board typically visualises the work planned for the current Sprint. The work items, or tasks, move from one column to the next on the board as they progress through the stages in the Scrum Teams workflow.

Maintaining an optimal flow is essential for delivering value quickly and predictably. By visualising the workflow on the Kanban board and tracking the time it takes for work items to move through the system, Scrum Teams can identify bottlenecks or areas where work gets stuck or slowed down. By addressing these issues and ensuring that work in progress is limited, teams can improve the flow of work.

Flow also ties into the pull system central to Kanban, where team members pull new work as they can handle it rather than having work pushed onto them based on predefined assignments. This contributes to a more balanced and sustainable pace of work and allows the team to adapt quickly to changes.