Cycle Time

Distinctions

Is

• Cycle time is the total amount of elapsed time between the start and end points of work.

Is Not

Boundary

• Cycle time measures elapsed time across work.
• Internal effort metrics can still be useful, but they are not the same thing as cycle time.

Systems

Zooming In: Parts of Cycle Time

• Cycle time is often measured across multiple process stages to diagnose delays.
• Measuring multiple cycle time stretches of a process is perfectly valid and often necessary in most contexts. Decomposing cycle time into multiple stretches helps expose where delays accumulate within a process.

Relationships

Perspectives

Stance	Who (Point)	What They See (View)	Optimize For	Insight	Blind Spots
Calendar Pragmatist	Customer or value recipient.	Time flows continuously from request to delivery, so nights, weekends, and holidays still count because the customer is waiting the whole time.	Faster end-to-end delivery and reduced waiting time.	The customer experiences elapsed time, not working time, so calendar-based cycle time exposes real delays and queues in the system.	Teams may still need internal metrics like active work time to diagnose where delays occur.
Weekend Eraser	Internal efficiency tracker or manager trying to measure team productivity.	Time should count only when people are actively working, so nights, weekends, and holidays should be subtracted.	Measuring productivity and active effort.	Active work time can help diagnose capacity, staffing, or effort.	Customers experience calendar time, so subtracting non-working hours can hide real delays in delivery.

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Works Consulted

1. FYK — Kanban Metric Essentials - Cycle Time