Can JIRA Portfolio time-based estimates be based on cycle time from Jira Software?

[Jim Pickering]

JIRA Portfolio can import and use story points on each story ticket for Scrum Teams, but for Kanban teams can JIRA Portfolio base the duration of time for each ticket from the team's cycle time in JIRA Software? If not, how does JIRA Portfolio set the duration for each ticket, as part of a continuous flow? Can T-Shirt sizes on each ticket in JIRA Software be imported into JIRA Portfolio and configured with a set duration of time, for the estimate?

[Martin Suntinger · Accepted solution]

Hey Jim, Portfolio currently doesn't support scheduling based on cycle time, it can only go off from point estimates and a team velocity or time estimates and the teams weekly hours capacity. 

We have an explicit scheduling mode for kanban on our roadmap based on throughput from the control chart in JIRA Software, but until we have dedicated support, the most common workaround seems to be to configure a Kanban team actually as Scrum with weekly iterations, and use the "default estimates" feature in the plan settings to size the stories in a way that reflects the current throughput. Let's say your team has a throughput of 7 stories per week, you could configure a team as Scrum with 1 week iteration lengths, give it a velocity of 7, and set the default estimate to 1, so you'll get a schedule in weeks, and 7 stories will get scheduled into each week to project into the future. 

[Jim Pickering]

@Martin Suntinger thanks for the reply. I hope JIRA Portfolio implements its planned Kanban features soon. I know of two Lean Kanban teams, each in two different companies, who are using Atlassian software that could really benefit from those features in JIRA Portfolio. The fact that those features are missing are the primary reason for holding back from using the product. Also the lack of ability to import JIRA tickets in real-time, which has been resolved now. I appreciate the workaround proposal too.