Flow metrics measure how efficiently work moves through your delivery system. Where DORA tells you about deploy outcomes, flow tells you about everything before deploy. Leanmote tracks four core flow metrics on the Workflow Performance tab of Performance Delivery.
The four flow metrics
Throughput — how much work the team completes per period.
Cycle Time — how long an item takes from active start to done.
Work in Progress (WIP) — how many items are in flight at once.
Waiting Time — accumulated time items spend in non-active workflow states.
Why they matter
Flow metrics expose the operational reality between planning and shipping. They surface bottlenecks (high WIP, long waiting), forecast capacity (throughput trend), and explain why DORA numbers move (cycle-time pressure usually precedes lead-time growth).
They're also linked to each other through Little's Law: cycle_time ≈ wip / throughput. If WIP rises faster than throughput, cycle time will follow.
How to read them in a review
Start with Throughput — is capacity holding steady?
Look at Cycle Time distribution. Median + P90 tell you whether most items flow well or a few drag.
Check WIP trend. Climbing WIP without climbing throughput is the canonical bottleneck signal.
Use Waiting Time to localize the bottleneck — is it review, QA, or deploy queue?
Related articles
Throughput
Cycle Time
Work in Progress (WIP)
Waiting Time
Bottleneck Insights dashboard