CFD-08
Insufficient Band Separation
CFD
Default severity: medium
ProcessMetricsOutputRisk
What it detects
More than the configured percentage of workflow stages have band height below the configured minimum share of total WIP.
Detection formula
min_share = config.cfd.min_band_share // default: 5% of total WIP IF COUNT(stages WHERE band_share \< min_share) > config.cfd.max_thin_stage_pct * total_stages // default: 40% THEN FLAG workflow_designExamples 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 more than the configured percentage of workflow stages have band height below the configured minimum share of total wip while min band share is set to 5% of total WIP.
Suggested response
Read stage WIP and throughput together; relieve bottlenecks and balance arrival vs capacity.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
More than the configured percentage of workflow stages have band height below the configured minimum share of total WIP.
Why it matters
When "Insufficient Band Separation" 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 "Insufficient Band Separation" 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.