Delivery queue
Also known as Deployment handoff
Definition
A delivery queue is unfinished work that has reached a downstream delivery boundary but is waiting for capacity, approval, environment, or a release decision. It makes post-implementation accumulation visible.
Delivery queue in practice
A delivery queue is unfinished work that has reached a downstream delivery boundary but is waiting for capacity, approval, environment, or a release decision. It makes post-implementation accumulation visible.
A concrete example
An illustrative team has three changes approved and tested, but only one deployment slot is available. The other two remain in the delivery queue. Treating them as complete would hide the delay experienced by users.
How to use the signal
Compare this measure with cycle time, throughput, work in progress, and queue time. Define the start and finish events, inspect distributions instead of relying on one average, and record the policy behind any comparison. A useful measure should lead to a specific question about flow rather than a score for an individual.
Limitations
A queue can be intentional, and repository events may not show all release constraints. Define what delivery-ready and delivered mean before measuring age or depth.
How this relates to Weave
Weave's engineering intelligence can help teams inspect delivery activity and timing around delivery queue. Use those signals to find patterns and test workflow improvements, while keeping the team's work system as the source of truth for product, operational, and dependency context.
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