What is the Time in Status in Jira 🚀

[#1]

Time in status in Jira makes it simple to generate reports that show how much time each issue has spent on each status, assignee, team, or project. When we’re planning a workflow, time is one of the first things we consider. We predict how long it will take to complete a task based on its complexity and resource capacity, and then set delivery deadlines. 

With time in status data, we can get actual time spent and compare it to planned ones. Moreover, we can adjust our efforts during the process if we know how time is consumed.

Questions that time in status helps to address:

• How long team members have spent finishing some task?
• How long an issue stays in progress or in review?
• How is time spent shared between different assignees?
• What is holding issues and the reason for delays?
• How to get a cycle or lead time for your issues?

That info provides you with the ability to analyze time-consuming and optimize your workflow. Jira is a treasury for monitoring time in status. It offers a variety of built-in solutions and Marketplace tools.

How to show time in status in Jira

To get time in status, you can switch on the Days in column option. The number of dots on the card shows the number of days an issue has been in a column. The feature is available for classic boards. You’ll need jira-administrator or project-administrator access to enable it.

Downsides: it represents the days only regardless of the specific time. There is no option to exclude weekends. Also, you should understand what number stays behind the dots. E.g., 1 red dot → 5 days · 2 red dots → 8 days. 

 Other ways to see time in status with Jira:

• Custom field and automation rules.
• Control Chart. Select the required status → identify the story number you want the time for → you’ll get the time spent on each state per story (issue).
• Average time in status gadget for the ones who like visuals. 

How to calculate time in status in Jira

If you’d like to get advanced reports with calculated data, Time in Status for Jira Cloud add-on comes in handy. It helps to obtain time spent automatically and analyze it in a convenient format. 

What reports you can get: Assignee Time, Average Time, Status Entrance Date, Time in Status per Date, Status Count, Transition Count, Cycle and Lead time, and others including the Pivot table. 

The most widely used report is called Time in Status. It determines how long issues have been staying in each state. 

It’s convenient to choose the working time (exclude weekends, holidays) and format (days, hours, minutes).

Also, this report can be presented as a chart both inside the app and on the Jira dashboard.

Jira's length of time in status

Let’s overview how to get other time spent reports: for assignee or groups, cycle or lead time.

How long each assignee has been working on a particular issue

You can monitor the productivity of employees and make future decisions to improve team efficiency based on this information. 

Additionally, you can calculate Assignee time for a team of several people, such as developers or L1 support. You can create a separate column in the time report, where all summarized data for this User group will be displayed.

Add new User group:

Get the results:

How long some issue was in particular statuses (Cycle, Lead time)

Get the summarized time for several columns by grouping statuses. For example, you need to get time an issue was in testing by developers and QAs. 

Select statuses you want to group and enter the name of your custom column.

The result:

Most frequently, the Status group is required to calculate the cycle and lead time. 

Cycle time refers to the time it takes for an action to complete from start to finish. 

Lead time covers the time between receiving a request for an action (not the start of work) and the completion of that action.

Here is an illustration if you want to understand the difference better.

You have the ability to choose statuses which you want to be included in a cycle or lead time depending on your workflow.

 

Users can analyze all these reports in detail by exporting data to Excel, Google Sheets (XLSX or CSV format), Power BI.

Another option is to place those reports on your Jira dashboard with Time in Status Gadget.

Takeaway

Time in status reports in Jira will give you a way more transparency into how your team is spending their time. By comparing numbers for different assignees, you can perform a critical analysis. You'll be able to figure out who's causing the delays this way. 

Try time in status reports to identify and scale up positive, productive changes.

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Would you like to try setting up Status Time reports without installing an add-on? Try the demo version of the add-on Time in Status for Jira Cloud here 🚀

[Jon Widén]

Does Time in Status consider working hours per day configured with Advanced Roadmaps? E.g using 8 hour days, is the cycle time 8 hours or 24 hours for a task with status "In progress" from noon one workday until the next?

[Mariana_Pryshliak_SaaSJet]

Hi @Jon Widén 

The add-on has the Calendar feature. So you can set up calendar according to your working hours/days, and exclude weekends or non-working hours. You can find more at the documentation page.

[Slava Gefen]

Hey @Julia Shcherbyna _SaaSJet_ Thanks for the article!

Does your App have the ability to set a kind of 'Time in Current status' field that shows time in current status in live?

And then to have an opportunity to see on a dashboard the value of this field in live?

Thanks in advance!
With kind regards
Slava

[Valeriia_SaaSJet]

Hey @Slava Gefen 

Our add-on allows you to track time in real status on the dashboard immediately just after setting it up. Add-on also supports custom fields and you will see the time in the status in live. 

Hope it helps, 
Valeriia