Lead Time and Cycle Time

Lead time is the amount of time between the request and delivery of a feature. This a concept has been taken from Lean manufacturing and adapted for software development teams. For scrum teams, the lead time is generally measured from the time a user story is created until the time it is completed. Cycle time is a related metric that measures the time between the start and completion of work on a feature (in terms of a user story). Together, these metrics give stakeholders an idea of the time to market for the features developed by the team.

These metrics can also indicate issues in backlog management or development processes. If lead times are significantly longer than cycle times, this can indicate problems with how efficiently your team is performing product backlog refinement. If the cycle time is significantly longer than the lead time, this can indicate issues in development that need to be investigated.