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What can I use to calculate the Cycle Time and Lead Time for a Kanban Project in JIRA ?

Rémy Hilbert

Hello,

We are implementing Kanban in our Organization.

Now I would like to use the Reports available in JIRA.

I think that the Report to get Cycle Time is the "Control Chart" ? Correct ?

But this report is not very user Friendly and understandable.

Is there any others options ? Even billable ?

Kind regards,

Accepted answers

All comments

Olexiy Artemenko

Hi Remy,

You're absolutely correct that the control chart in Jira is a good starting point for measuring cycle time, but it does come with several limitations.

Here's an article that outlines these limitations in more detail: Jira Cycle Time Limitations and Tools.

Cycle Time Chart for App Central (2).png

As the article mentions, the new Cycle Time Charts app is a user-friendly, robust solution for measuring cycle/lead time, time in status, and trends. I’d be happy to demonstrate the app and assist in developing a Proof of Concept tailored to your needs.

Feel free to book a time that works best for you: Schedule a 30-Minute Session.

Thanks,
Oleksii
Head of Product, Broken Build

Gizem Gökçe _OBSS_

Hello @Rémy Hilbert ,

Welcome to the community!

Yes, you’re correct! In Jira, the Control Chart is typically used to measure Cycle Time in Kanban. It shows the time issues spent in each status, helping you visualize flow efficiency. However, as you mentioned, the Control Chart can sometimes be difficult to interpret and may lack flexibility for custom cycle time tracking.

Alternative Options: If you’re looking for a more user-friendly and customizable solution, there are third-party apps available, like Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira, which is developed by my team, can provide more control and clarity over cycle time reporting:

Timepiece mainly allows you to see how much time each issue spent on each status or each assignee. You can combine the time for multiple statuses to get metrics like Issue Age, Cycle Time, Lead Time, Resolution Time etc.

Cycle Time 1.png

Cycle Time 2.png

For all numeric report types, you can calculate averages and sums of those durations grouped by the issue fields you select. For example total cycle time per kanban team or averagecycle time per week, month, issuetype etc.

Cycle Time 3.png

Timepiece reports can be accessed through its own reporting page, dashboard gadgets, and issue view screen tabs. All these options can provide both calculated data tables and charts.

Cycle Time 4.png

Visit Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira to explore a 30-day free trial to experience the full range of features. If you wish, you can also schedule a live demo. We will provide a comprehensive overview of the application and address any inquiries you may have.

Hope it helps,

Gizem

Rahul

Hi @Rémy Hilbert

Welcome to the community !!

There are few ways to achieve this requirement. You can use Jira Automation to populate a custom field on status change. or you can also use Jira Rest API's to pull this data from issue change history.

Another option could be to use a mktplace app. If you would be interested in the same, you can try out our app

Time in Status Reports

The app allows to group your statuses and define your own cycle time / lead times. Also with this app you generate time in status for multiple issues with multiple filter and grouping options. The app can easily be added as a dashboard gadget.

More details here.

Disclaimer : I work for the vendor who built this app

TIS - Cycle Time report.PNG

The below status transitions report will help you calculate total time between two status transitions

Danut M [StonikByte]

Hi @Rémy Hilbert,

Indeed, the only report provided by Jira is the Control Chart report.

If this is not sufficient for you, my advice is to search on Atlassian Marketplace for an app that provides a more advanced report or dashboard gadgets for measuring cycle time and lead time.

If you are willing to try an app, our Great Gadgets app offers some very powerful gadgets for tracking cycle time and lead time in Jira and Confluence.

Control Chart Gadget

This gadget allows you to see the issues by cycle time or lead time, easily identify outliers, see trends and average.

Cycle Time Trend Chart Gadget

This gadget allows you to see the average cycle time or lead time for your team in past intervals along with the trend. It helps you see if the team improves or not over time, see the overall average.

Histogram Chart Gadget

Helps you see the distribution of the cycle time - how many issues were in each time intervals, and see how many took longer than expected.

See also these articles:

Danut

Mehmet A _Bloompeak_

Hi @Rémy Hilbert ,

There are 2 alternatives to Control chart.

The raw data you need is available in issue history and you can get it using Jira Rest API. It provides the status changes for each issue. It returns json, then you need to calculate cycle time by coding which parses issue history rest api json for each issue.
You can try marketplace apps. We developed Status Time Reports app for this exact need. Here is the online demo link, you can see it in action and try. If you are looking for a free solution, you can try the limited version Status Time Free.

For more detail on cycle time you can have a look at this community article: Cycle Time and Lead Time in Jira: Productivity Measurement with Two Critical Parameters

Vitalii_Bobak_SaaSJet

Hi @Rémy Hilbert
Welcome to the Community!

You're right—the "Control Chart" in Jira is a popular choice for visualizing Cycle Time. It can be a bit complex, especially for teams new to Kanban metrics.

If you’re open to using add-ons, you do have other options to consider.
Time in Status can be solution for you.

To get cycle or lead time just:

Choose Time in Status report
Sort by Project or Assignee, JQL, Label etc.
Get your Cycle Time or Lead time Report

Frame 1021.png

Additionally, Time in Status provides detailed breakdowns and visual reports (charts, dashboards, gadgets), which are helpful for tracking performance trends over time.

Also you could look into Time Metrics Tracker | Time Between Statuses. This add-on breaks down transition times between statuses in a more straightforward way, making it easier to track your team's efficiency and spot bottlenecks. Plus, it provides flexibility with exporting data and setting custom time metrics.

I hope this helps!

You can also book a live session or contact us at Support - we'll help you with add-ons.

Add-ons developed by my team.

I hope you find this helpful 🚀

Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira

Hi @Rémy Hilbert

as you can see from the previous answers, this is an area where many Jira users rely on apps from the Atlassian Marketplace.

If a Marketplace app is an option for you, I think you'd like the app that my team and I are working on, JXL for Jira.

JXL is a full-fledged spreadsheet/table view for your issues that allows viewing, inline-editing, sorting, and filtering by all your issue fields, much like you’d do in e.g. Excel or Google Sheets. It also comes with a number of so-called history columns that aren’t natively available, including an issue's time between created and resolved, time in [status], or time between [status] and [status].

This is how it looks in action:

As you can see above, you can easily sort and filter by your history columns, and also use them across JXL's advanced features, such as support for (configurable) issue hierarchies, issue grouping by any issue field(s), sum-ups, or conditional formatting.

Any questions just let me know,

Best,

Hannes

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