What is task throughput, and how do you measure it in Metabase?
Task throughput is the count of work items completed per period. It is a simple flow metric for work-management dashboards across Notion, Asana, ClickUp, Trello, monday.com, Linear, and Jira.
TL;DR — Throughput counts completed items. Use it as a trend by team or project, not as a cross-team productivity ranking.
Definition
Task throughput = completed work items in a period.
Data needed
completed_ator done status date- Project/team/work type fields for segmentation
- Archived/canceled flags for exclusions
SQL pattern
Task throughput by week and projectPostgreSQL
SELECT
date_trunc('week', completed_at) AS week,
project_name,
COUNT(*) AS completed_items
FROM work_items
WHERE completed_at IS NOT NULL
AND archived_at IS NULL
AND canceled_at IS NULL
GROUP BY 1, 2
ORDER BY 1, 2;Pitfalls
Mixing tiny tasks and large projects without segmentation.→ Break throughput out by work type or size where possible.
Comparing teams with different workflows.→ Use throughput as a within-team trend unless workflows are normalized.
Related
FAQ
Is throughput the same as velocity?
No. Velocity usually counts estimated points in a sprint or cycle. Throughput counts completed items and is easier to compare over time when item size is reasonably stable.