Cycle time
The elapsed time from when work starts on an item to when it is finished, a core flow metric borrowed from lean and Kanban.
What it means
Cycle time is not defined in the Scrum Guide but is widely used alongside Scrum and Kanban to understand how long it actually takes to deliver an item once work begins.
Shorter, more consistent cycle times indicate predictable flow and are often a better health signal than velocity, since they reflect actual delivery speed rather than an estimation exercise.
Common mistakes
Teams typically track cycle time on a control chart or scatter plot, looking for outliers that indicate items stuck in review, waiting on dependencies, or blocked by external teams.
Example
The team's median cycle time drops from six days to three after introducing a WIP limit on code review.