Flow Metrics Now

This document serves as your comprehensive guide to initiating Delivery Flow for the first time. It outlines the process of accessing flow metrics for your work in four straightforward steps.

Comprehensive Instructions for Accessing Your Flow Metrics

1. Generate a Workflow Map Using a Project Template

2. Establish Issue Color Coding

3. Determine the Appropriate JQL Query

4. Execute the Query to Obtain Your Flow Metrics

1. Generate a Workflow Map using a Project Template

After installing the application, proceed to the following options in the top menu of Jira:

Apps> Manage Your Apps>

Next, navigate to the following section in the Left Side Bar:

Delivery Flow Admin> Workflow Maps

Upon successfully completing these steps, a screen similar to the one below will be displayed:

Click on the New Map button. The dialog for creating a new workflow map will appear:

Click on the Use existing project as a template selection box. The dropdown will display the name of all projects in your Jira instance, each accompanied by its unique project key. Choose the project you intend to focus on. A Workflow Map Name will be automatically generated. Modify it if necessary, then proceed to click Create. Make a note of the project used as we will refer to this in step 3.

Subsequently, the newly generated Workflow Map will be visible on the Workflow Maps Admin Page. This map leverages the selected project to define lanes and values within the workflow map. At this point, you can edit the Workflow Map should it not align precisely with your requirements.

2. Determine the Appropriate JQL Query

With Color and Workflow Map setup complete, the final step to access your Flow Metrics is to input and run a JQL query that encompasses all the work you intend to measure. However, your query demands careful consideration. Primarily, you must contemplate the query's scope. For example, are you seeking data for your team, a cluster of teams, or the entire organisation?

Additionally, you must factor in time. Certain projects have extensive durations. Merely specifying the scope without setting a time constraint could lead to the extraction of an overwhelming volume of irrelevant data. Here is a simple example to get started:

Focus on project used to create Workflow Map

Hopefully, the strategy is apparent. The Workflow Map developed in step 1 will analyze the Jira workflow that these issues have passed through, generating precise metrics for all the issues in the query. The example above refers to project TEAM. Substitute this value with the key of the project that you chose in step 1. Additionally, this query restricts the data retrieval to approximately 12 weeks.

3. Execute the Query to Obtain Your Flow Metrics

Navigate to the Delivery Flow App Page from Jira's top menu:

Apps> Delivery Flow>

This action will direct you to the main page of the application.

Click on User Settings located in the top right corner of the application. This action will prompt the user settings dialog to appear.

Click on the Preferred Workflow Map selection box and choose the Workflow Map that was created in step one. If not already set, enter 90 for the number of days in flow calculations. Click Save to save your settings and return to the main screen. Now, input your JQL query in the Delivery Flows query bar located at the top of the page and press enter. Delivery Flow will retrieve your data, conduct its flow calculations, and populate the application with your flow metrics.

Once execution of the query is complete, you will have access to the Flow Overview, Flow Types, Flow Demand, Flow Times and Flow History pages. You are now in a position to refine your query and repeat its execution if necessary. You can also adjust your Workflow Map or create new Workflow Maps for other projects or products being developed within your organisation.

Note on Issue Color Coding

This step is optional but recommended. Many graphs in Delivery Flow display data at an Issue Type level. By default, each Issue Type is randomly assigned one of 18 colours from Atlassian’s chart visualisation palette. Assigning colours to different issue types aids in identifying them and promotes consistency throughout your organisation, as these settings are system-wide. Therefore, you should consider your options and make your adjustments. For example, we always like to assign red to defect issue types and green to feature issue types.

To access the Color Mapping Page, follow these steps in Jira's top menu:

Apps> Manage Your Apps>

Then, navigate to the following section in the Left Side Bar:

Delivery Flow Admin> Color Mapping

Within this section, you can define and assign colors to your various issue types. For detailed instructions, you can refer to the guide on mapping colors to your issue types.

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