Software factory cadence

Cadence is a pattern over time

Cadence describes how regularly work moves through a system. A team may have a weekly planning rhythm and release several times each day. Another team may release on a slower schedule because its product or operational boundary requires it. Neither schedule is automatically healthy or unhealthy.

The useful question is whether the rhythm gives people timely feedback and keeps work from accumulating. Long gaps between feedback can create larger batches and make failures harder to isolate. A burst of activity at the end of a cycle can hide a queue that has been growing for weeks.

Measure the events behind the rhythm

Track the timing and distribution of starts, completions, reviews, deployments, failures, and recovery work. Deployment frequency and change lead time describe parts of delivery cadence. Cycle time, queue age, work in progress, and rework help explain why the pattern looks the way it does.

Keep different work types visible. A steady stream of incident fixes is a different cadence from a steady stream of planned product changes. Compare similar services and observe how a process change affects the full distribution rather than relying on one weekly average.

How Weave can help

Weave can connect cadence changes to the code and review events behind them. Teams can inspect whether a new factory practice reduced waiting, changed change size, or shifted work into rework. Use deployment and incident records to complete the picture when the cadence question reaches production.