CFD-01
WIP Expansion — Band Widening
CFD
Default severity: medium
ProcessMetricsOutputRisk
What it detects
In-progress band height is growing across consecutive windows — more work entering than completing. Window count and growth threshold are configurable. active_band_height(W) = SUM(band_heights, config.workflow.active_stages)
Detection formula
IF active_band_height(t2) > active_band_height(t1) * config.cfd.wip_growth_threshold // default: 1.2 confirmed over >= config.cfd.min_confirming_windows // default: 2 THEN FLAGExamples in practice
- Cumulative flow bands widen, invert, or stall while throughput fails to keep pace.
- Stage WIP grows without matching completion slope on the CFD.
- A team shows in-progress band height is growing across consecutive windows while wip growth threshold is set to 1.2 confirmed over >= config.cfd.min_confirming_windows.
Suggested response
Read stage WIP and throughput together; relieve bottlenecks and balance arrival vs capacity.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
In-progress band height is growing across consecutive windows — more work entering than completing. Window count and growth threshold are configurable. active_band_height(W) = SUM(band_heights, config.workflow.active_stages)
Why it matters
When "WIP Expansion — Band Widening" keeps appearing, the team is signalling a repeatable process gap. Left unexamined, the pattern hides where work really stalls and makes improvement metrics harder to trust.
What you can achieve
Read stage WIP and throughput together; relieve bottlenecks and balance arrival vs capacity.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "WIP Expansion — Band Widening" from firing again?
- What do the cited issues have in common — same root cause or same workaround?
- Who owns the two-week experiment and how will we verify on the next import?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.