How does Cycle Time get measured?

[Stephen Marie-Rhodes]

Are there any more details on how Cycle Time gets measured?  Docs suggest "first commit to production".

How does this work for Squash Merges where git history is altered?  
How does this work for long-running branches that may address multiple Jira-Issue types?

[Mariana_Pryshliak_Saasjet]

Hello @Stephen Marie-Rhodes 

Here's a 3 tools to analyze Cycle and Lead Time in Jira article, which describes a few ways to calculate Cycle time.

Hope it helps.

[Emre Toptancı _OBSS_]

Hello @Stephen Marie-Rhodes ,

Jira's Cycle Time report works together with source control to come up with a cycle time from issue creation to first commit reaching production. The details about this are available in the links shared in other answers.

I can recommend another solution that is based solely on Jira issue workflows. If you are OK with using a marketplace app, our team at OBSS built Time in Status app for this exact need. It is available for Jira Server, Cloud, and Data Center.  

Time in Status mainly allows you to see how much time each issue spent on each status and on each assignee.

       

The app has Consolidated Columns feature. This feature allows you to combine the duration for multiple statuses into a single column and exclude unwanted ones. It is the most flexible way to get any measurement you might want. Measurements like Issue Age, Cycle Time, Lead Time, Resolution Time etc.

For all numeric report types, you can calculate averages and sums of those durations grouped by the issue fields you select. For example total in-progress time per customer (organization) or average resolution time per sprint, week, month, issuetype, request type, etc. The ability to group by parts of dates (year, month, week, day, hour) or sprints is particularly useful here since it allows you to compare different time periods or see the trend.

The app calculates its reports using already existing Jira issue histories so when you install the app, you don't need to add anything to your issue workflows and you can get reports on your past issues as well. It supports both Company Managed and Team Managed projects.

Time in Status 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.

And the app has a REST API so you can get the reports from Jira UI or via REST.

  

Using Time in Status you can:

• See how much time each issue spent on each status, assignee, user group and also see dates of status transitions.
• Calculate averages and sums of those durations grouped by issue fields you select. (For example, see average InProgress time per project and per issue type.)
• Export your data as XLS, XLSX, or CSV.
• Access data via REST API. (for integrations)
• Visualize data with various chart types.
• See Time in Status reports on Jira Dashboard gadgets

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1211756/

EmreT

[Mehmet A _Bloompeak_]

Hi @Stephen Marie-Rhodes

You can have a look at the article below.

Cycle Time and Lead Time in Jira: Productivity Measurement with Two Critical Parameters

Hope it helps.

[Stephen Marie-Rhodes]

Hmmm....  maybe I'm misreading but https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/view-and-understand-your-cycle-time-report/ seems to outline a different implementation based on deployment events and analyzing commits/smart commits...  

[Mehmet A _Bloompeak_]

Hi @Stephen Marie-Rhodes

Yes, our article refers to cycle time reports based on a different measurement method. That is, if you are managing your issue workflow using different statuses(e.g. New=> when the issue is added to backlog upon customer request, In Progress=> when the team starts working on the issue, Done=> when the work is finished), then you can measure cycle time by measuring the time interval between the moment team starts working on an issue(In Progress status) to the moment it is completed(Done status).

Hope it helps.