FL-11
Parent Initiative Regresses While Delivery Children Active
Flow
Default severity: medium
ProcessMetricsOutputRisk
What it detects
parent moves backward in stage_order while a direct child remains active/non-terminal; tests; catalogue.
Detection formula
No published identification formula is available yet for this rule.Examples in practice
- Board policy limits are exceeded or status movement patterns look artificial.
- Work piles up in one column or moves in bulk instead of flowing steadily.
- A team shows parent moves backward in stage_order while a direct child remains active/non-terminal; tests; catalogue during analysis.
Suggested response
Inspect board policy, WIP, and status hygiene so flow matches how work actually progresses.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
The "Parent Initiative Regresses While Delivery Children Active" signal shows a repeatable delivery anti-pattern on the cited issues.
Why it matters
When "Parent Initiative Regresses While Delivery Children Active" 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
Inspect board policy, WIP, and status hygiene so flow matches how work actually progresses.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "Parent Initiative Regresses While Delivery Children Active" 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.