Commonly confused
Cycle Time vs Throughput
Cycle time is a duration — how long a single item takes from start to done. Throughput is a rate — how many items finish per period. Together with work-in-progress they describe flow (Little's Law): cycle time tells you 'how fast per item,' throughput tells you 'how much overall.'
Cycle Time vs Throughput, in short
- Cycle time is a duration — how long a single item takes from start to done. Throughput is a rate — how many items finish per period. Together with work-in-progress they describe flow (Little's Law): cycle time tells you 'how fast per item,' throughput tells you 'how much overall.'
- When to use cycle time: Use cycle time to find and fix slow, stuck, or high-variance items.
- When to use throughput: Use throughput to track overall delivery rate and forecast capacity.
| Aspect | Cycle Time | Throughput |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cycle time is how long an issue takes from the moment work actively starts on it to the moment it is done. Measured in hours or days, it captures the team's hands-on flow efficiency. Shorter, more consistent cycle times mean a more predictable system — the core flow metric Kanban teams optimize. | Throughput is the number of work items a team completes in a given period — issues finished per week, for example. It is the simplest flow metric: a direct count of output over time. Tracked across periods, throughput reveals a team's real delivery capacity and is the basis for probabilistic, estimate-free forecasting. |
| When to use it | Use cycle time to find and fix slow, stuck, or high-variance items. | Use throughput to track overall delivery rate and forecast capacity. |
| Full definition | Cycle Time | Throughput |