Improve performance with Jira's time-in-status feature

Time is how managers measure progress, and tasks that drag on cut into both productivity and profit. Compressed timelines swing the other way, driving burnout and mistakes that damage customer satisfaction.

Project administrators and IT service management (ITSM) leads need a way to measure time spent on tasks so they can spot bottlenecks and improve how the team works. Jira's time-in-status feature does that. It tracks lead and cycle time for project tasks or ITSM tickets by workflow status.

What is time in status in Jira?

Time-in-status is a reporting feature in Atlassian's Jira Cloud, Server, and Data Center that tracks how long an issue or ticket sits in a given workflow status, broken down by assignee, team, or project, and surfaces the result on your dashboard.

A Jira time-in-status report lets you monitor:

• Completion time for specific tasks

• The average time a ticket remains in one status before transitioning to the next

• How long team members take to resolve an issue

• Delays caused by roadblocks and bottlenecks

• Cycle and lead times for specific issues

Benefits of tracking time in status

Time-in-status reports give managers a concrete view of where work stalls. They help teams:

• Increase efficiency: Measuring time in status exposes the parts of a workflow causing delays, so managers can streamline the process and reallocate resources.

• Track performance: Time-based metrics turn into actionable insights on team output and make it easier to tune the workflow.

• Identify trends: Ongoing monitoring reveals patterns and recurring delays that hurt outcomes and customer satisfaction.

• Improve transparency: Progress is visible to everyone, which encourages ownership of the work.

How to display time in status in Jira

To surface time in status on your dashboard, request access from your Jira administrator. Once approved, activate the "Days in column" option to see time spent in each workflow status. The number and color of the dots show how many days an issue has sat under that status, so teams can flag stagnant work and reprioritize.

This option counts every day, including weekends and holidays — not just working days. It also doesn't track hours, so it isn't a fit for short-term workflows.

The other route is to build custom fields, automation rules, or Control Charts for statuses on every story or issue. That works, but the setup is labor-intensive.

Alternative methods to calculate time in status

The Atlassian Marketplace offers Jira add-ons that gather, analyze, and deliver time-in-status reports straight to user and project dashboards. Depending on the add-on, these third-party tools can surface:

• Time average

• Assignee time

• Entrance date

• Time in status per date

• Status count

• Transition count

• Cycle and lead time

How to leverage time in status

To enable Jira's native time-in-status reports:

1. Select the gear icon to access "Settings" 1. Click "Issues" > "Custom Fields" 1. Input "Time in status" into the "Name this field" variable 1. Configure settings as needed 1. Manually update the field's value for each transition between time in statuses

Monitor time in status with Custom Charts for Jira and Confluence

For a third-party option, Tempo's Custom Charts app plugs into Atlassian Jira and Confluence. Here's what it does:

• Leveraging existing statuses: Custom Charts tracks issues using the three primary statuses — To do, In progress, and Review.

• Time assessment: The time-spent feature lets managers gauge team performance based on how long an issue sits in each status. When something drags, the data points to the obstacle.

• Workflow streamlining: Time-in-status analysis surfaces bottlenecks and delays, giving managers something to act on.

• Report generation: With time-in-status data, users can build burnup and burndown reports and combine them with data from other time-tracking apps like Tempo's Timesheets.

• Streamlining the tech stack: Instead of stitching together multiple tracking apps, Custom Charts for Jira monitors issue history, sprint progress, sprint velocity, and project health in one place.

• Benchmarking: Custom Charts compares time in status and other metrics across sprints, epics, and assignees, helping managers spot complex sprints, underprioritized epics, or overloaded team members.

Time in status use cases

Time-in-status metrics streamline workflows and improve efficiency in a few common ways.

Improve cycle times

Jira's time-in-status reports show how issues progress through the workflow. Managers use that view to remove inefficiencies and roadblocks, then track whether the changes actually raised throughput.

Track lead time

Time-in-status reports show how long the team takes to resolve issues or tickets. Plotting status evolution over time lets teams analyze task duration and pinpoint where extra support is needed.

Performance evaluation

Track time spent per assignee to see how long each person takes on comparable work. The data reveals individual strengths and coaching opportunities.

Leverage time-in-status info with Tempo

Tempo's Custom Charts app helps you find high-impact workflow improvements across Jira Cloud, Server, and Data Center. It tracks metrics like average time in status, cumulative spend, and sprint progress. Users can build personalized charts and dashboards to analyze KPIs and catch roadblocks before they hit productivity.

Take control of your team's workflows with time-in-status insights and watch effectiveness climb.