What is Flow Efficiency?
The share of cycle time that work is actively being worked on versus waiting.
Definition
Flow efficiency is the ratio of active work time to total cycle time, expressed as a percentage. It reveals how much of a change's life is spent in motion versus waiting in queues (for review, for testing, for deploy).
How it’s measured
Divide active time by total elapsed time for a unit of work. If a PR takes 5 days end-to-end but only 6 hours of actual work happened, flow efficiency is low — most of the time was waiting.
What good looks like
Many teams discover flow efficiency below 15% — meaning work waits far more than it moves. Improving it rarely requires working faster; it requires removing queues and wait states.
Why it matters
Flow efficiency reframes "go faster" as "stop waiting." It points leaders at systemic bottlenecks (review queues, handoffs, WIP) instead of pressuring individuals.
Related terms
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