The Challenge

This B2B Distribution company engaged Integrātz to address growing concerns over IT delivery volatility and missed commitments. Despite following Scrum practices and working in two-week sprints, teams consistently failed to predict when work would be completed. The lack of a delivery-focused mindset and over-reliance on timeboxed rituals resulted in value being delivered late, or not at all.

Upon analysis, we observed highly erratic delivery patterns. Work items routinely piled up toward the end of each sprint, creating bottlenecks and overburdened team members. Jira dashboards showed sprint velocity, but not the true variability in flow. Behind the scenes, metrics like Work Item Age and Cycle Time revealed wild fluctuations from one sprint to the next; clear signs of an unstable system.

This uneven flow not only impacted end-customer satisfaction, but also created planning headaches for leadership. High WIP levels and inconsistent handoffs made it difficult to forecast, prioritize, or coordinate across teams. The organization needed more than a tooling change—they needed a data-informed operating model that could bring transparency, control, and predictability to delivery.

Our Approach

We introduced a lean flow-based operating model grounded in Kanban principles—visualizing workflow, limiting WIP, and actively managing items in progress. By shifting attention from timeboxes to continuous delivery and from managing the work instead of the person, we focused on stabilizing flow through process behavior charts (XmR) and coaching around flow metrics. Within weeks, Total WIP Age, Cycle Time, and WIP variability began to stabilize, marking a move toward a statistically controlled process.

Outcomes:

• Cycle Time Variation dropped by 36%
• 96.4% Work Completion Ratio (vs prior baseline under 80%)
• WIP Age Flattened post-March 15, indicating stabilized work in progress
• Consistent Delivery Speed confirmed by XmR control charts
• Zero process disruption; no tooling changes, no team reorg