Unlocking the Power of Control Charts in Product Delivery
Imagine having a crystal-clear understanding of how long it takes to deliver new features to your customers. No more uncertainty, no more frustration. This is where control charts come in – a powerful tool to help you visualize and optimize your product delivery process.
What is a Control Chart?
A control chart is a visual representation of your process over time, showcasing deviations and patterns in your delivery workflow. It displays the average time it takes to complete a piece of work, along with the elapsed time and date of completion. This chart is typically used in quality control processes, but its applications extend to product management, helping teams deliver work more efficiently.
Components of a Control Chart
A standard control chart consists of:
- The Y-axis, representing elapsed time
- The X-axis, representing the date of completion
- Clusters of completed work items, displayed as larger dots
- Single work items, displayed as smaller dots
- A solid line, indicating the average time to complete an issue
- A wavy line, showing the rolling average time to complete a work item
Benefits of Using a Control Chart
Control charts offer two primary benefits in product management:
- Estimating Work: By providing a historical picture of how long tasks have taken in the past, control charts help you estimate the time required for future work. This accuracy builds trust with stakeholders and dependent teams.
- Spotting Issues: Control charts identify outliers in the process, enabling you to pinpoint areas where the process isn’t predictable. This helps you troubleshoot issues, eliminate scope creep, and break work into consistent sizes.
Overcoming Common Issues
When working with control charts, you may encounter two main issues:
- Scope Creep: Identify and eliminate scope creep by analyzing outliers on the chart. This ensures consistent delivery of value to customers.
- Inconsistent Work Sizes: Break work into consistent sizes by asking if each task is about one to two days’ worth of work. This helps eliminate bottlenecks and creates a predictable process.
Where to Find Control Charts
Many product management tools, such as Jira, offer built-in control charts. You can also find integrations with tools like Trello and Asana that provide similar visualizations. To access the control chart report in Jira, navigate to your project and board, click on reports, and then select control chart.
Key Takeaways
Control charts are powerful tools that help you spot inconsistencies, estimate work time, and ensure consistent work sizes. By leveraging control charts, you can improve the predictability of your delivery process, ensuring projects are delivered on time.