Rule reference
Canonical pages for every detection rule in the Flow Analyzer engine — antipattern definitions, coaching playbooks, and evidence examples. Share these links in readouts to spread a common delivery vocabulary.
436 rules in this build, grouped by category.
New to flow metrics? Glossary explains dwell, cycle time, findings, and other labels used on dashboards.
Backlog Health
- BH-01Zombie Item — Excessive Open Age
- BH-02Single-Owner Concentration
- BH-03Burst Delivery Pattern
- BH-04Zero or Near-Zero Estimation Coverage
- BH-05Done Without Sprint Assignment
- BH-06Delayed Sprint Closure
- BH-07Cancellation Without Documentation
- BH-08Silent In-Progress Item
- BH-09Persevere Epic With Stale Open Children
- BH-10Unestimated Work by Column
Burn Charts
- BC-01Sprint Burn-Down — Insufficient Daily Progress
- BC-02Sprint Burn-Down Slope Reversal — Scope Added
- BC-03Sprint Burn-Down — Late Spike at Sprint End
- BC-04Burn-Up — Scope Line Rising Faster Than Completion Line
- BC-05Burn-Up — Completion Rate Insufficient for Target Date
- BC-06Epic Burn-Down — Epic Stalled
- BC-07Epic Burn-Down — Disproportionate Remaining Work vs Time Elapsed
- BC-08Business Value Burn-Up — BV Back-Loaded
- BC-09Business Value Burn-Up — Zero BV Delivered in PI
- BC-10Burn Chart Dimensional Inconsistency
- BC-11Remaining Time Estimate Burndown Not Credible
Carry-Over
- CO-01Issue Carried Over to Next Sprint
- CO-02Multi-Sprint Carry-Over — Chronic Carryover Item
- CO-03Team-Level Carry-Over Rate — Over-Planning Signal
- CO-04Cross-Sprint Issue Transfer — Intentional Replanning
- CO-05Business Value Carry-Over — Committed BV Not Delivered
- CO-06Carry-Over Rate Increasing Over Time
- CO-07Carry-Over Concentration — Same Issues Repeat
- CO-08Sprint End In Progress Cliff
CFD
- CFD-01WIP Expansion — Band Widening
- CFD-02Flat Band — Stage Starvation
- CFD-03Thickening Band — Stage Bottleneck
- CFD-04Step Pattern — Batch Delivery
- CFD-05Declining Throughput Rate
- CFD-06Rising WIP Without Rising Throughput
- CFD-07Band Order Inversion
- CFD-08Insufficient Band Separation
- CFD-09Sudden WIP Drop Without Throughput Spike
- CFD-10Arrival Rate Spike Without Capacity Change
CFD Advanced
- CA-01Dominant Stage Bottleneck
- CA-02System-Level WIP Accumulation
- CA-03Planning Event Arrival Spike
- CA-04Pre-Release Stage Thickening
- CA-05Testing Stage Bypass
- CA-06Preparation Stage Band Instability
- CA-07Multi-Stage Synchronised Step
- CA-08Done Slope Insufficient vs Growth Slope
- CA-09WIP Age Inflation — Stale Items in Visible WIP
- CA-10Throughput Variance Too High
Content & History
- CH-01Ghost Story — Never Activated
- CH-02Ghost Story — Abandoned In-Progress
- CH-03Template or Empty Content
- CH-04Vague Summary
- CH-05Content Added After Work Started
- CH-06Acceptance Criteria Added After Work Started
- CH-07Summary Changed After Work Started
- CH-08Estimation Changed In Active Sprint
- CH-09Issue Reassigned Between Parent Issues
- CH-10High Field Churn
- CH-11Priority Changed Repeatedly
- CH-12Assignee Instability
- CH-13Description Content Removed Mid-Flight
- CH-14Target Date Slippage
- CH-15Undifferentiated Clone
- CH-16Sibling Issues Share Identical Description
- CH-17Excessive Backlog Rank Reprioritisation
- CH-18Cross-Project Near-Duplicate Delivery
- CH-19Acceptance Criteria Removed Mid-Flight
- CH-20Retroactive Taxonomy Change on Done Issues
- CH-21Continuation Clone Carries Full Predecessor Scope
- CH-22Release Date Revised After Active Development Started
- CH-23PI Continuation Clone Without Scope Delta
- CH-24Component Reassigned Mid-Delivery
- CH-25Issue Type Changed After Planning Commitment
- CH-26Success Metric Downgraded In Description
- CH-27Delivery Scope Pivot In Description
- CH-28Parent Link Changed After Terminal Status
- CH-29Changelog Author Concentration on Scope Fields
Control Chart
- CC-01Sustained Rolling Avg Uptrend
- CC-02Rolling Avg Above Overall Avg
- CC-03UCL Not Configured
- CC-04Std Dev Band Too Wide
- CC-05Rolling Avg Dip — Real vs False Improvement
- CC-06Outlier Cluster in Recent Window
- CC-07Rolling Avg Below LCL
- CC-08Std Dev Band Widening Over Time
- CC-09Cross-Team Outlier Concentration
- CC-10Team Rolling Avg Divergence From Portfolio
Cycle Time
- CT-01Extreme Cycle Time Spread
- CT-02Rolling Avg Divergence
- CT-03Sustained Average Above SLA Threshold
- CT-05Bimodal Distribution
- CT-06Cycle Time Max Breach by Issue Type: explicit per-issue max threshold check.
- CT-07Lead Time Max Breach: explicit per-issue lead threshold check.
- CT-08Cycle-vs-Lead Sanity Check: lead time must not be below cycle time.
Data Quality
Discipline
- DV-01Unassigned Issue in Active Status
- DV-02Unassigned Issue Approaching UCL
- DV-03Worklog Not Updated in Active Issue
- DV-04No Status Update in Active Issue
- DV-05Mandatory Fields Missing at Stage Entry
- DV-06Mandatory Fields Still Empty in Current Status
- DV-07Fix Version or Release Target Not Set
- DV-08Missing Labels or Tags
- DV-09Missing Due Date on Time-Sensitive Issue Type
- DV-10Dependencies Not Linked Before Development
- DV-11Issue Added to Sprint Without Story Points
- DV-12Sprint Overcommitment
- DV-13Sprint Goal Not Defined
- DV-14Issue Not Updated During Its Sprint
- DV-15Rolled Over Issue Not Flagged
- DV-16Team Capacity Not Updated After Significant Change
- DV-17Issue Description Not Updated Since Creation
- DV-18No Comment Activity in Long-Running Issue
- DV-19Acceptance Criteria Not Updated After Scope Change
- DV-20Epic With No Child Issues
- DV-21Feature With No Child Stories
- DV-22Epic Decomposition Ratio Too Low
- DV-23Issue Size Too Large for Hierarchy Level
- DV-24Issue Size Too Small for Hierarchy Level
- DV-25Inconsistent Hierarchy — Story Without Parent Feature
- DV-26Feature Without Parent Epic
- DV-27Sprint Contains Only Large Issues
- DV-28Child Issues Exceed Parent Story Points
- DV-29Multi-Project Work Split in Description Without Decomposition
- DV-30Excessive Comment Activity on Issue
- DV-31Excessive Comment Volume by Author
- DV-32Weak Continuous Update Cadence on Active Issue
- DV-33Team Batch Update Pattern on Active Work
- DV-34Original Estimate Exceeds Sprint Duration
- DV-35Rollover Without Documented Cause
DoD Gates
- DG-01Stage Transition With DoD Below Threshold
- DG-02Analysis Stage DoD Bypass
- DG-03Readiness Stage DoD Bypass
- DG-04Development Stage DoD Bypass
- DG-05Closure Stage DoD Incomplete
- DG-06Critically Low Total DoD Completion
- DG-07Stage Flip-Flop
- DG-08Excessive Planning Event Transfers
- DG-09Excessive Lead Time on Open Issue
- DG-10Critical DoD Field Unchecked Before Development
- DG-11Architecture Not Approved Before Development
- DG-12Compliance Review Not Completed Before Development
- DG-13Issue Not Decomposed Before Development
- DG-14Handover Not Completed Before Closure
- DG-15DoD Completion Rate Declining Across Periods
- DG-16Paper DoD Bulk Completion at Closure
- DG-17DoD Item Checked Without Supporting Body Evidence
- DG-18DoD Checklist Item Reverted After Check
- DG-19MMP DoD Checked Outside Implementing Stage
- DG-20DoD Checklist Empty Past Analysing
End-Loaded Effort
Estimation
Estimation Precision
- EP-01Systematic Underestimation by SP Size Class
- EP-02Estimation Precision Distribution — Fat Tail
- EP-03Story Points vs Time Spent — Calibration Drift
- EP-04Story Points vs Time Spent — Non-Linear Scaling
- EP-05Business Value vs Effort Ratio — Low ROI Items
- EP-06Estimate Added After Work Started
- EP-07SP Consistency by Assignee — Estimation Bias
- EP-08Story Points vs Hours Incoherent at Item Level
Flags
- FI-01Flag Without Resolution Action
- FI-02Long-Standing Flag — Unresolved Impediment
- FI-03Recurring Flag on Same Issue
- FI-04Flag Cleared Without Resolution Evidence
- FI-05Sprint-End Flag Clearing
- FI-06Flagged Item Aging Beyond Cycle Time Threshold
- FI-07High Simultaneous Flag Rate
- FI-08Parent Issue Flag Concentration
- FI-09Flag Without Blocker Link
- FI-10Unblock Time Exceeds Cycle Time Stddev
- FI-11Flagged Item Closed Without Unflagging
- FI-12Flag Rate Increasing Over Time
- FI-13No Flag Usage on Slow Issues
- FI-14Team-Level Flag Concentration
- FI-15Flag Raised After Configured Issue Age Threshold
Flow
- FL-01WIP Limit Exceeded
- FL-02Sprint-End Bulk Status Transition
- FL-03Status Regression
- FL-04Unassigned Active Issues
- FL-05Synchronised Cross-Team Improvement Dip
- FL-06Column Accumulation Bottleneck
- FL-07Mandatory Workflow Stage Skipped
- FL-08Workflow Status Thrash or Done Reopen
- FL-09Cross-Project Workflow Path Diverges Under Shared Parent
- FL-10Excessive Dwell Between Configured Workflow Stages
- FL-11Parent Initiative Regresses While Delivery Children Active
- FL-12Delivery Closed From Implementing Without Validation Gates
- FL-13Active Delivery Demoted From Implementing To Funnel
Flow Story
Governance
Hygiene
Issue Age
Issue Type Distribution
Kanban / Flow Teams
Metric Integrity
- MI-01Same-Timestamp Bulk Closure — Single Project
- MI-02Same-Timestamp Bulk Closure — Cross-Project
- MI-03Resolution Field Not Set on Closed Issues
- MI-04Sequential Batch Closures — Manual Sweep Pattern
- MI-05Admin Field Bulk Update on Closed Issues
- MI-06Sprint Assigned After Resolution
- MI-07Planning Period Label Mismatch
- MI-08Late Sprint Injection
- MI-09Status Reversal Clock Reset
- MI-10Parent Closed With Open Children
- MI-11Parent Active With All Children Terminal
- MI-12Parent in Pre-Release With Open Children
- MI-13Parent in Post-Development Testing With Open Children
- MI-14Story Closed With Open Subtasks
- MI-15Closed with Cancelled Resolution
- MI-17Referenced Sub-Task Missing From Ingest Scope
- MI-18Parent Terminal While Children Remain in Earlier PI
- MI-19Cross-Tribe Stale Parent Link
Operational Issues
- OI-01Operational Tracker Issue — Summary Signal
- OI-02Operational Issue Inflating Lead Time
- OI-03Operational Issue Used as Worklog Container
- OI-04Operational Issue Without Subtasks — Flat Structure
- OI-05Operational Issues Proportion — Team-Level Impact
- OI-06Operational Issue Crossing Sprint Boundaries
- OI-07Metric Exclusion Advisory — Operational Issues Impact Report
- OI-08Operational Bucket Child Heap Size
- OI-09Operational Bucket Child Injection Rate
- OI-10Operational Bucket Child Growth Trend
Org Capacity
- ORG-01FTE Over-Allocation On Active Roster Person
- ORG-02Undeclared Cross-Tribe Sharing
- ORG-03Squad Sprint Overcommit Versus Roster Capacity
- ORG-04Observed Hours Diverge From Configured FTE
- ORG-05Specialist Skill Silo On Roster
- ORG-06Cross-Tribe Active WIP On One Person
- ORG-07Discovered Person Has Active WIP
- ORG-08Inactive Roster Person Still Working
- ORG-09Worklogged Hours Without Assignee
- ORG-10Outside Primary Team Without Declared Sharing
- ORG-11Vendor Or Contractor On Blocking Path
- ORG-12Roster Role Mismatches Observed Work
- ORG-13Cross-Squad Collaboration Without Sharing Scope
- ORG-14Tribe WIP Exceeds Configured Limit
- ORG-15Jira Team Field Diverges From Roster Squad
- ORG-16Program Increment Load Exceeds Squad Capacity
- ORG-17Worklog Author Not On Roster
Outliers
Ownership
PI Level
Pipeline
- PL-01Item Stuck in Pre-Release Stage
- PL-02Cross-Team Pre-Release Blockage
- PL-03Planning Period Carryover Without Label Update
- PL-04Aged Pre-Release Backlog
- PL-05WSJF or PI Baseline Changed After Planning Lock
- PL-06Program or PI Multi-Value Drift
- PL-07Fix Version Thrash Before Release
- PL-08Planning Baseline Cleared After Lock
- PL-09Stacked PI Labels on Active Initiative
- PL-10Target or Sprint Oscillation in Planning Window
- PL-11Baseline And Target End Divergence While Active
- PL-12PI Label Conflicts With Active Program Increment
- PL-13Target End Before Target Start
- PL-14Target End Passed While Not Done
- PL-15Active Feature Missing Program Increment
Planning Recommendations
- PR-01Sprint Planning Advisory Card
- PR-03Monthly Planning Advisory
- PR-05Backlog Refinement Depth Advisory
- PR-06WIP Advisory — Maximum Concurrent In-Progress Items
- PR-07Business Value Delivery Rate Advisory
- PR-08Missing Time Criticality on Prioritized Work
- PR-09High Time Criticality Item Aging in Backlog
- PR-10WIP Inversion — Lower Time Criticality Active While Higher TC Waits
- PR-11Missing WSJF Components on Prioritized Work
- PR-12WSJF Score Mismatch — Stored vs Computed
- PR-13WIP Inversion — Lower WSJF Active While Higher WSJF Waits
- PR-14Backlog Rank vs WSJF Order Inversion
- PR-15Job Size vs Story Points Divergence
- PR-16WSJF Finalised in DoD but WSJF Data Incomplete or Inconsistent
- PR-17Work Started Out of Priority Order
Resource Allocation
- RA-01Expert Bottleneck — Single Person on Critical Path
- RA-02Expert Bottleneck — Single Person Primary Worklog Contributor Across Epics
- RA-03Overloaded Team Member — WIP Exceeds Capacity
- RA-04Underutilised Team Member — Low Assignment and Worklog Activity
- RA-05Assignment Concentration — One Person Receives All New Work
- RA-06Cross-Skill Dependency — Person Is Only Assignee for a Skill Area
- RA-07Worklog Hours Mismatch — Assignee vs Actual Worker
- RA-08Resource Velocity — Per-Person Throughput Tracking
- RA-09Sankey Flow Data — Resource-Issue Assignment Map
- RA-10Precious Resource Protection Score
- RA-11Actor Touched Multiple Parent Initiatives Same Calendar Day
Right Skew
Scope Control
- SC-01Sprint Scope Injection — Issues Added After Lock
- SC-02Sprint Scope Removal — Issues Removed Mid-Sprint
- SC-03Sprint Scope Churn Rate
- SC-04PI Scope Injection — Issues Added to PI After Planning
- SC-05PI Scope Reduction — Items Removed Without Delivery
- SC-06Sprint Scope Change Frequency Trend
- SC-07Sprint Assignment Thrash
- SC-08Issue Created in Sprint Tail With Estimate
Signal Chart
- SG-01Worklog Signal — Long Idle Period During Active Status
- SG-03Worklog Signal — Multi-Person Handoff Pattern
- SG-04Worklog Signal — Zero Effort Issue
- SG-05Worklog Signal — Effort Front-Loaded vs Progress
- SG-06Worklog Signal — Disproportionate Effort vs Estimate
- SG-07Worklog Signal — Team Effort Concentration on Single Issue
SP Consistency
Sprint / Planning
Sprint Anomalies
- SA-01Issue Completed Outside Any Sprint
- SA-02Issue Resolved After Sprint End Without Sprint Update
- SA-03Issue Removed From Sprint Without Completion or Flag
- SA-04Sprint Velocity Composed Primarily of Non-Feature Work
- SA-05Unplanned Work Ratio Exceeding Threshold
- SA-06Sprint Paper Closure — Silent Story Done at Sprint End
- SA-07Sprint Issue vs Story Point Completion Gap
Text Quality
Time Tracking Integrity
- TI-01Time Logged on Not-Started Issue
- TI-02In Progress with Zero Time Spent
- TI-03In Progress with Zero Time Remaining
- TI-04Done Issue with Time Remaining \> 0
- TI-05Done Issue with Zero Time Spent
- TI-06Time Remaining Exceeds Original Estimate
- TI-07Time Spent Exceeds Original Estimate — In Progress
- TI-08Time Tracking Consistency Across Sprint
- TI-09Worklog Entry Repeatedly Inflated in Short Window
- TI-10Worklog Entry Sustained Inflation Across Delivery
- TI-11Parent Initiative Aggregate Worklog Inflation
- TI-12Worklog Entry Sustained Deflation
- TI-13Work Logged After Done
- TI-14Sub-Task Closed Long After Last Worklog
Type Misclassification
- TM-01Story Summary Suggests a Bug
- TM-02Story Summary Suggests a Test or QA Task
- TM-03Story Summary Suggests a Technical Task or Infrastructure Work
- TM-04Story Summary Suggests an Analysis or Research Task
- TM-05Story Summary Suggests a Meeting or Process Event
- TM-06Story Missing Standard User Story Format
- TM-07Epic or Feature Summary Too Vague — Missing Outcome Language
- TM-08Sub-Task Summary Suggests a Full Story
- TM-09Systemic Misclassification Pattern — Team-Level
- TM-10Duplicate or Near-Duplicate Summary Detected
- TM-11CSV and HTML Issue Type Disagree
- TM-12Analysis Issue Closed Via Production Done Path
- TM-13Task Summary Suggests a User Story
- TM-14Team Task Overuse Ratio Exceeds Threshold
- TM-15Task vs Story Misuse
- TM-16Test Case Issue Type in Backlog
Value Stream
Value Stream Graph
- VS-01Disconnected Initiative — No Full Delivery Path
- VS-02Cyclic Dependency Detected
- VS-03Missing Cross-Tribe Dependency Links
- VS-04Graph Depth Exceeds Configured Maximum
- VS-05High Fan-Out Node — Single Issue Blocking Many
- VS-06Directly Blocked Node
- VS-07Transitively Blocked Node — Indirect Dependency Chain
- VS-08Blocker Chain Length Exceeds Threshold
- VS-09Critical Path Node With Low DoD Score
- VS-10Initiative Blocked at Single Point of Failure
- VS-11Cross-Tribe Dependency Without Agreed Handoff Date
- VS-12Parallel Delivery Opportunity Missed
- VS-13Value Delivery Blocked — All Paths to Done Are Blocked
- VS-14WIP Concentrated on Non-Critical Path
- VS-15Tribe Contribution Imbalance on Shared Initiative
- VS-16Dependency Risk Score Exceeding Threshold
- VS-17Requirement Coverage Incomplete — Covered By
- VS-18Cross-Project Blocker Linked After Development Started
- VS-19Dependency Endpoint Outside Analysis Scope
- VS-20Cross-Team Impact Mentioned Without Dependency Link
- VS-21Dependency Link Demoted From Blocker To Relates
- VS-22Dependency Link Reversed Or Weakened
- VS-23Tested-By Link Without Harness Readiness
- VS-24Contradictory Blocker And Relates Links Coexist
- VS-25Hierarchy Link Demoted To Relates
- VS-26Weak Traceability Link Without Delivery Coverage
Velocity
- VL-01Velocity Baseline Computation — Rolling Window
- VL-02Over-Planning — Sprint Commitment Exceeds Historical Maximum
- VL-03Over-Planning — Sprint Commitment Above Recommended Range
- VL-04Under-Planning — Sprint Commitment Below Recommended Range
- VL-05Under-Planning — Sprint Commitment Below Historical Minimum
- VL-06Velocity Inconsistency — High Variance Across Sprints
- VL-07Velocity Declining Trend — Sustained Reduction Over Time
- VL-08Velocity Spike — Single Sprint Significantly Above Average
- VL-09Dimensional Velocity Imbalance — Dimensions Tell Different Stories
- VL-10Recommended Planning Range Card — Per Team Per Sprint
- VL-11Commitment Accuracy — Committed vs Completed Ratio
- VL-12Issue Count vs Story Point Velocity — Sizing Consistency
Work Definition
- WD-01Missing Acceptance Criteria
- WD-02Subtask Sized as Story
- WD-03Analysis Logged as User Story
- WD-04Closed Without Acceptance Criteria
- WD-05Missing Component Linkage
- WD-06Story Without Subtasks
- WD-07Missing Story Points on Story
- WD-08Remote Documentation Link Without Issue Integration
- WD-09Acceptance Criteria Bulk-Completed at Stage Gate
- WD-10Checklist Snapshot Contradicts Changelog History
- WD-11Parent Initiative Acceptance Criteria Coverage Below Threshold
- WD-12Artifact Placeholder in Advanced Workflow Stages
- WD-13Verification Feature Created After Sibling Delivery
- WD-14Parent Initiative Used as Worklog Container
- WD-15Conflicting Parent Link Pointers
- WD-16Story With Many Test Sub-Tasks
- WD-17Story Completed Without Test Sub-Tasks
- WD-18Scope Expanded Without Test Decomposition
- WD-19Acceptance Criteria Technical Instead of Outcome
- WD-20TC Maintenance Story Fan-Out
- WD-21Move to Done Without Acceptance Criteria