Flow efficiency
Also known as Process cycle efficiency, Value stream efficiency
Definition
Flow efficiency is the share of elapsed delivery time spent on active work rather than waiting, handoffs, or queues. It helps teams see whether a slow result comes from implementation effort or from delays around the work.
The basic calculation
Flow efficiency is commonly calculated as active work time divided by total elapsed time, multiplied by 100. If a change receives 90 minutes of implementation and review work but takes 10 hours from start to release, its flow efficiency is 15 percent. The exact start and end events must be stated.
Why it helps
Teams often try to speed up active work while ignoring the queue around it. A faster test suite will not remove a two-day wait for approval. Separating active time from waiting time directs improvement toward the constraint that people actually experience.
Use ranges, not one score
Flow differs by change type. A routine documentation update and a database migration should not share one target. Examine percentiles and examples, then ask which stage creates the longest wait. A low value is a prompt for investigation, not a quality judgment.
A Weave investigation
With Weave, teams can move from a flow trend to the pull requests and review events behind it. That context helps distinguish a policy problem from an unusual change and gives an improvement experiment a measurable starting point.
How this relates to Weave
Weave helps teams examine pull request and delivery timelines so waiting stages become visible. A flow efficiency view can show whether review, testing, or deployment queues are the largest source of delay.
Explore Engineering intelligence