FAQs

What is Cycle Time, Lead Time & Time in Status Charts?

Cycle Time, Lead Time & Time in Status Charts is a Jira dashboard app that helps teams understand how long work takes, where time is being spent, and how delivery performance changes over time.

It provides complementary charts for analyzing cycle time, lead time, time in workflow stages, delivery trends, time distributions, percentiles, thresholds, and unusually slow work items.

Which gadgets are included in the app?

The app includes four configurable Jira dashboard gadgets:

• Cycle Time Trend Chart Gadget: Shows how average cycle time, lead time, or another workflow duration changes across reporting intervals.

• Control Chart Gadget: Displays the duration of individual work items and helps identify trends, outliers, and threshold breaches.

• Histogram Chart Gadget: Displays the distribution of cycle or lead times across configurable duration ranges.

• Time in Status Gadget: Shows the total or average time work items spent in workflow statuses, status categories, or board columns.

Who is the app designed for?

The app is useful for Scrum and Kanban teams, Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, Product Owners, Project Managers, Delivery Managers, Engineering Leads, DevOps and QA teams, ITSM and support teams, RTEs, and PMOs.

It can be adapted to Scrum, Kanban, SAFe®, ITSM, service management, continuous-flow processes, and custom Jira workflows.

Is a free trial available?

Yes. You can start a free 30-day trial from the app’s listing on the Atlassian Marketplace.

Do I need Jira administrator permissions to use the gadgets?

A Jira administrator is generally required to install the app.

After installation, users with permission to create or edit Jira dashboards can add and configure the gadgets. Users must also have permission to view the work items, boards, projects, and filters used as data sources.

Do I need to know JQL?

No. All four gadgets can use a Jira agile board or saved filter as their data source.

JQL is available when you need more precise control over the work items included in the calculations.

Which data sources can I use?

The gadgets can use:

• A Jira agile board

• A saved Jira filter

• A JQL query

Make sure that saved filters are shared with everyone who needs to view the gadget.

Can I track work across multiple projects or teams?

Yes. Create a saved filter or JQL query containing work items from the required projects or teams and use it as the gadget’s data source.

When several teams are included in the same data source, the results represent their aggregated workflow performance. To analyze each team separately, configure a separate filter or gadget for each team.

Can I include subtasks?

Yes. Enable the option to include subtasks when they represent work that should be analyzed separately.

Including subtasks can provide more detailed insight when development, review, testing, deployment, or other activities are tracked below the parent work-item level.

How do the gadgets calculate cycle time?

The Cycle Time Trend, Control Chart, and Histogram Chart gadgets calculate the elapsed time between a configurable start event and end event.

To calculate a standard cycle time, configure the cycle to start when a work item enters an In Progress status and end when it enters a Done status.

The gadgets use Jira’s historical work-item data to determine when these events occurred.

How do the gadgets calculate lead time?

To calculate lead time, configure the cycle to start when the work item is created or enters a To Do status and end when it enters a Done status.

This measures the total elapsed time from the initial request or workflow entry until completion.

Can I measure the time between custom workflow statuses?

Yes. You can select specific workflow statuses as the start and end points of the cycle.

This allows you to measure other workflow durations, such as:

• Time from request creation to first response

• Time from development to deployment

• Time spent in review or testing

• Time from escalation to resolution

• Time from a selected workflow stage to completion

The exact metric depends on how the start and end events are configured.

Can I choose the first or last entry into a status?

Yes. When a work item enters the configured start or end status multiple times, you can choose whether the calculation should use its first or last entry.

This helps you adapt the calculation to workflows in which work items move backward, are reopened, or revisit the same stage.

Do the cycle-time gadgets analyze only completed work?

The Cycle Time Trend, Control Chart, and Histogram Chart analyze work items that reached the configured cycle end event during the selected reporting period.

The cycle end does not necessarily need to be Done. It can be another workflow status, depending on the selected configuration.

The Control Chart can also calculate the time until a work item entered its current status.

What does the Control Chart show?

The Control Chart displays each work item as a point based on its cycle duration and the date when its cycle ended.

Use it to inspect individual delivery times, identify unusually slow work items, analyze variability, and determine whether delivery is becoming more or less predictable.

What does standard deviation in the Control Chart shows?

Standard deviation indicates how widely individual cycle times vary around the rolling average.

Work items outside the standard-deviation range can be treated as potential outliers and investigated separately.

What does the Histogram Chart show?

The Histogram Chart groups completed cycles into duration ranges and shows how many work items fall into each range.

Use it to understand the shape of the cycle-time or lead-time distribution and determine how frequently work is completed within different timeframes.

Which gadgets support percentile lines?

The Control Chart and Histogram Chart can display configurable percentile lines.

In the Control Chart, percentile lines provide context for the individual work-item durations. In the Histogram Chart, they show where the selected percentage falls within the time distribution.

Which chart types can I use for Time in Status?

Depending on whether the results are grouped, you can display them as:

• Bar chart

• Column chart

• Pie chart

• Stacked bar chart

• Stacked column chart

Can I view the work items behind the chart values?

Yes. The gadgets can display detailed data tables containing the work items and time calculations behind the chart.

The table can be displayed on a separate tab or below the chart. The data table can also be exported to CSV for further analysis or reporting.

Are these gadgets also available in Great Gadgets?

Yes. The Control Chart, Cycle Time Trend Chart, Histogram Chart, and Time in Status gadgets are also included in Great Gadgets for Jira, StonikByte’s complete Jira dashboard reporting suite.

Which app should I choose?

Choose Cycle Time, Lead Time & Time in Status Charts when you need a focused solution for measuring workflow duration, analyzing delivery trends and distributions, identifying slow work, and understanding where time is spent.

Choose Great Gadgets for Jira when you also need burndown and burnup charts, release forecasts, velocity and throughput charts, WIP charts, cumulative flow diagrams, pivot tables and charts, custom KPIs, work breakdown structures, worklog reports, and other dashboard capabilities in a single app.

Do I need the standalone app if I already have Great Gadgets?

No. If Great Gadgets is already installed and licensed, you can use the Control Chart, Cycle Time Trend Chart, Histogram Chart, and Time in Status gadgets included in that app.

Is Great Gadgets licensed separately?

Yes. Cycle Time, Lead Time & Time in Status Charts and Great Gadgets for Jira are separate Atlassian Marketplace apps, each with its own installation and license.