Engineering benchmarks: A guide to improving flow efficiency

Flow efficiency is a crucial metric in software engineering that measures the percentage of time a task is actively worked on relative to the total time it is in progress, indicating how smoothly work flows within an organization. Low flow efficiency often points to issues such as multitasking, external dependencies, or oversized tasks, which can lead to unfinished work and increased delivery costs. Improving flow efficiency involves strategies like limiting work in progress, minimizing delays and dependencies through enhanced collaboration and automation, reducing task size for better manageability, and lowering defect rates through increased testing and continuous integration. Leadership plays a vital role in maintaining high flow efficiency by managing priorities and handling interruptions effectively, ensuring that organizational changes and urgent requests do not disrupt the workflow excessively. By focusing on these aspects, engineering teams can enhance productivity and predictability in their deliverables, making flow efficiency a valuable benchmark for evaluating and improving organizational performance.