Cycle Time is the time it takes to finish a process (Value Stream), measured from when it’s started, including all process and wait time in between.
The difference to Lead Time is that Cycle Time starts later, not when the request is accepted (=Lead Time), but when the work is actually started. Aka: When it’s moved to “Ready” on a Kanban Board.
Request from Start of Work is
Customer Work Done
| \__________/ |
| | |
\ Cycle Time |
\_________________________/
|
Lead Time
The Cycle Time tells how long it takes “the team” to do the job - including all wait periods.
The difference between Lead Time and Cycle Time tells how long it takes work to “reach the team’s work cycle” (can be caused by long Queue Size or bureaucratic overhead or …)
