The definitions
- Lead time — from the moment an issue is created to the moment it is resolved. It is what the person who asked experiences.
- Cycle time — from when work starts to when it is resolved. It is what the team controls.
- Throughput — how many issues are resolved per week or month.
- Time in status — how long issues spend in each status, which is where you find the queue.
When does work “start”?
Jira has no started field, so a start has to be read from each issue's status history. Bastion Helix Charts takes the first move out of a status in the To Do category. Using the status category rather than a status name means it works whatever your workflow calls its columns — Selected for Development, Backlog, Open — as long as the status sits in To Do.
When does work “end”?
Normally, Jira's resolution date. But some boards move issues to Done without setting a resolution, which silently removes them from every lead-time report. Charts treats reaching a Done-category status as resolved when there is no resolution date, so those issues still count.
Charting them
The chart builder has presets for the common views — Throughput trend, Cycle time by type and Lead time by type — and you can build your own:
- Throughput: group by Resolved (week), measure Issue count, add a 3-period moving average to smooth it.
- Cycle time by person: group by assignee, measure cycle time, draw it as horizontal bars.
- Where work waits: look at time in status, by status.
- Is work piling up? A cumulative flow chart shows the count in each status over time; widening bands mean a queue.
Click any bar to see the issues behind it — usually the fastest way to find out why a number moved.
Traps that make the numbers lie
- Averages hide the tail. A few issues that sat for months pull an average up. Split by issue type, or look at the issues behind the tallest bars.
- Reopened issues. An issue resolved, reopened and resolved again has a resolution date from the last time. Watch for long lead times that are really two pieces of work.
- Backlog grooming counts as lead time. An idea logged a year ago and done in a day has a lead time of a year. That's true, but it is not a delivery problem — compare cycle time.
- Batch closes. Closing fifty stale issues on one day makes a throughput spike that isn't delivery. Click the spike and look at what's behind it.
Bastion Helix for Jira isn’t on the Marketplace yet. All seven modules are built and running in our own test Jira site. Try the live demos, or leave your email below to hear the day early access opens.