Flow Efficiency - CI/CD Glossary Definition
Flow efficiency measures how much of a task total time is real work versus waiting; it is often surprisingly low.
Flow efficiency is the ratio of active work time to total elapsed time for a unit of work; low flow efficiency means work spends most of its life waiting.
Because work typically waits far more than it is worked on, improving flow efficiency usually means removing queues, not working faster.
In CI
A change that waits an hour for a queued runner but builds in five minutes has poor flow efficiency; warm pools and capacity fix the wait, not the build.
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