Definition
The average number of hours a Jira issue takes to complete once its started.
Calculation
Calculated from when the issue is first moved to a status category of “In Progress” to when it is moved to a status category of "Done".
Below is a list of Jira status names that map to the "In Progress" category and "Done" category in Velocity (case insensitive).
"In Progress" Statuses
In progress
Started
In development
In dev
Development in progress
Dev in progress
"Done" Statuses
Done
Fixed
Resolved
Complete
Completed
Production
Under Implementation
Merge to Dev
Simple Issue Cycle Time Example
Day 1: Issue created in To Do
Day 2: Issue moved to In Progress
Day 3: Issue moved back to To Do
Day 4: Issue moved back to In Progress
Day 5: Issue moved to Done.
The issue cycle time will be (Day 5 - Day 2) = 3 days.
Why it Matters
Like PR Cycle Time, which represents your team’s Time To Market using PR data, Issue Cycle Time allows you to understand how long issues (stories, bugs, tasks, etc.) take from start to completion.
How to use it
Issue Cycle Time can be viewed along with PR Cycle Time as your team’s speedometer. Use it to understand baseline productivity over time, and to check for any changes in the team’s process that caused a positive or negative effect on this metric.
If Issue Cycle Time is high it could mean that your developers have a lot of Work In Progress, that requirements are unclear, or that the QA process is taking too long.
This metric is not diagnostic, so to identify why Issue Cycle Time is high, you’ll want to look at other metrics that make up the software development process, such as Time to Open, Time to Review, Time to Merge, or Review Cycles.
FAQs
Can I change the status to category mapping in Velocity? No, these mappings are not customizable at this time.
Can I exclude an issue from Issue Cycle Time? No. While you can exclude pull requests and commits in Velocity, it is not currently possible to exclude individual Jira issues from Issue Cycle Time.