Cycle Time is the time it takes from the moment a team starts work on an item, until the moment value is delivered to the customer. It matters because the customer doesn’t see something as complete until they have it in their hands and can use it. Many teams seem to think their work is complete when it meets Definition of Done and the Product Owner accepts the item. If you live in a world where features are delivered continuously then this is true. Many teams, however, live in a world where work happens downstream of the Development Team. Cycle time captures all of that and therefore challenges us to optimize the whole delivery process.
Resource Links:
- Cycle Time (Martin Fowler)
- Cycle Time and Lead Time
- Experiment: Measure Lead And Cycle Time
- How to Measure Cycle Time: With or without non-working hours?
- Measure Cycle Time, Not Velocity
See Also:
Mark Levison has been helping Scrum teams and organizations with Agile, Scrum and Kanban style approaches since 2001. From certified scrum master training to custom Agile courses, he has helped well over 8,000 individuals, earning him respect and top rated reviews as one of the pioneers within the industry, as well as a raft of certifications from the ScrumAlliance. Mark has been a speaker at various Agile Conferences for more than 20 years, and is a published Scrum author with eBooks as well as articles on InfoQ.com, ScrumAlliance.org an AgileAlliance.org.
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