Lead Time in Azure DevOps

Owned by Valeriia Havrylenko
Last updated: Oct 08, 2024
2 min read

Context: A project manager needs to measure the efficiency of their team’s workflow by calculating Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as Lead Time. These metrics are crucial for assessing the balance between productive work and waiting periods throughout the project's lifecycle.

User Problem: As a project manager, I need to accurately calculate the efficiency of our project by measuring Lead Time. This helps me understand the time spent actively working on tasks versus the time tasks spend waiting, ensuring that our processes are optimized and project goals are met effectively.

Solution: Using the Time in State, you can efficiently calculate Lead Time to determine your project’s efficiency.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are widely adopted metrics to assess the effectiveness of practices, products, projects, or initiatives. In project planning, KPIs are meticulously defined to gauge performance, beginning from day zero and tracked throughout every stage. Initiating a project with a well-defined objective requires a systematic measurement of effectiveness and the accuracy of steps taken toward the goal. KPIs play a crucial role in providing concrete insights into decision-making, reinforcing their validity, and evaluating the overall quality of ongoing efforts.

Lead Time

To calculate the Lead Time of Work Items, you can use the Time in State metric along with specific state transitions that represent waiting periods. Here's a general approach:

Identify Relevant States. Determine which states in your Work Item process represent periods of waiting. For example, you might have states like "New," "Active," "Resolved," and "Closed." The time spent in states like "New" and "Resolved" could be considered Lead Times.

Follow this guide to calculate Lead Time using Time in State extension:

  1. Select a query for the report generation.

  2. Select a calendar for the correct calculation.

  3. Filter Work Items by Closed.

  4. (Optionally) Select the item’s range in the “Work Item“ dropdown (to display items closed in such period).

  5. Select a period in the “Time range” dropdown (to display the time calculation for the selected item range in the specific time range).

  6. Look at the State column, and the time that item was in such an active state (for example Doing, Active, etc).

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If you need help or want to ask questions, please contact SaaSJet Support or email us at support@saasjet.atlassian.net