Once your issue tracker is set up, you can map the columns of your workflow to better reflect what is in development and being actively worked on, versus what is in pre development and not started yet. Mapping these columns will allow you to accurately measure your flow metrics, for example cycle time, Work In Progress (WIP) and throughput.
Where can I can model my workflow?
You need to go in Project settings, then you select the Workflow Mapping tab.
How the model and categories impact my metrics?
In this page, you will see every columns used in your issue tracker's board. Axify's model have 4 categories: Unmapped, Pre Development, In Development and Done.
Unmapped columns will exclude these phases from any calculation.
Pre Development reflects the upstream phase that happens before the development team is working on it. Typically this reflect the phases before a sprint/iteration start, refinement work, etc. Columns mapped in Pre Development will not be included in cycle time.
In Development reflects the delivery phases, where the development team is actively working on issues. Every columns included in this category will be included for cycle time/WIP/throughput metrics.
Done reflects the columns where the team consider an issue done. Typically it is the last column of your workflow, but sometimes it may be sooner.
What pages and metrics are impacted?
Value Stream Page
The issue cycle time tab will benefit from this configuration. Your columns included In Development will be in blue, and the issue cycle time will only consider these columns in its total. You will still view the columns in Pre Development, so you can inspect and analyze, but these columns will not affect the issue cycle time.
Note that you can click on "Model my workflow" in the upper right corner of the screen to go directly change the mapping.
The Deliverables lead time tab will also be impacted. The Deliverables lead time has a In Development phase, defined as it starts when its first child is considered in progress. By mapping your workflow, if you change when an issue starts, it will also impact when the first issue of a Deliverable is considered started.
Process page
In the process page, many metrics will benefit from the configuration. The cycle time, the throughput, the service level expectation, the workflow stability and Work In Progress (WIP) will use the model to calculate the flow metrics.
Daily Digest page
The Daily Digest page uses the service level expectation to indicate risks for the Age in progress and Current status age. Service level expectation is based on the cycle time, hence it will be impacted if you change the mapping.
Forecast page
The Forecast page uses the throughput in its model to predict delivery dates. If you change when an issue is considered done, it might affect throughput, and hence impact the forecast dates.
What happen if I do nothing? What is the default behaviour?
The Workflow Mapping is a nice-to-have tool to better reflect how a teams work. By default, we will consider the first column of a workflow as Pre Development, and the last column as Done. Everything in between will be considered as In Development.
What happens if my workflow change?
When we detect a column changes, we will inform you that this is a new column is available and invite you to add it to your existing workflow. By default, we do not include them in the workflow to not break existing knowledge/reporting of your metrics without your consent.
If you need any help, please contact help@axify.io.