How to Use Time in Status in Jira for Kanban Boards

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Kanban is more than sticky notes and columns. It's a data-informed discipline focused on flow, throughput, and continuous improvement. But what happens when your Jira board only shows where tasks are, not how long they’ve been stuck?

Enter Time in Status—a Jira app that transforms your board from a passive tracker into an active diagnostic tool. Let’s dive into how it enables teams to uncover bottlenecks, improve flow efficiency, and coach smarter—all without disrupting your current workflow.

🚦 Use Case 1: Uncovering Bottlenecks You Can’t See

Your board looks busy, but delivery is slow. Where’s the hold-up?

With Time in Status Reports:

• You can instantly identify stages like “Code Review” or “QA” where cards consistently lag.
• See status-by-status breakdowns of how long tasks remain in each column.
• Highlight patterns across projects, assignees, or components.

📊 Result: A team discovered 40% of their delivery time was lost in review. A simple change—pair-based reviewing—slashed wait time by half.

🕒 Use Case 2: Measuring Flow Efficiency the Right Way

Flow Efficiency =  (Value-added time / Total cycle time) × 100

This metric separates actual working time from idle or blocked time. Using Time in Status reports, you can:

• Track total time spent in “In Progress” vs. waiting stages like “Blocked,” “QA,” or “Ready for PO”.
• Visualize which steps truly add value—and which need redesigning.

🎯 Pro Tip: Add work calendars to exclude weekends and holidays for precision. This gives you a realistic picture of business time vs. total clock time.

🔄 Use Case 3: Setting Smart WIP Limits with Data

Work in Progress (WIP) is a core Kanban lever—but it's often set based on gut feel.

With Time in Status Reports:

• Track how increased WIP correlates with longer “In Progress” durations.
• Prove how multitasking impacts cycle time.
• Justify tighter WIP limits with performance data.

📉 Result: One team reduced WIP from 10 to 5 and saw a 35% drop in cycle time—with no increase in pressure.

🧠 Use Case 4: Coaching Team Behavior Based on Status Time

Sometimes, the blocker isn’t the workflow—it’s habits.

Using Time in Status reports:

• Spot individuals whose tasks regularly stall in the same status.
• Detect patterns of overcommitment or unclear ownership.
• Use insights for constructive 1:1 coaching, mentoring, or onboarding support.

👥 Result: A team used these metrics to support new hires, reducing onboarding time by 25% and building trust through data-driven coaching.

🧩 Use Case 5: Making Time in Status Visible with Custom Fields

Want insights directly on the board? That’s where custom fields come in.

With Time in Status, you can:

• Add a custom field that displays live status duration (dd:hh) on each card.
• Link it to a working calendar for accurate, business-time tracking.
• Use the field in JQL to filter issues (e.g., “show me items stuck in QA for 3+ days”).

Of course, not everyone is comfortable with using working hours in Kanban. If you want to use custom fields without taking them into account, you can use the 24/7 calendar by simply specifying the correct time zone.

💡 This is perfect for:

• SLAs (e.g., support tickets needing response within X hours).
• Time-sensitive workflows (e.g., legal reviews or release blocks).

If you’re using custom fields by Time in Status app, you’ll notice time in the final “Done” status isn’t shown. That’s intentional.

✅ In Kanban, once a task hits “Done,” it’s considered out of the workflow.
❌ Time spent after that point doesn’t affect delivery flow and isn’t relevant to WIP or efficiency.

This behavior only applies to custom fields. Full reports will still show end-to-end timing.

💡 Bonus: Use Calendars for Accurate Working Hours

Whether your team works 9–5, on-call, or across time zones, Time in Status lets you:

• Apply custom calendars to reflect actual working hours.
• Eliminate misleading timing caused by weekends, holidays, or night shifts.
• Get precise cycle time metrics that reflect real work conditions.

🚀 TL;DR: Make Your Flow Visible, Measurable, and Better

With Jira Time in Status reports, Kanban teams can:

• Expose hidden bottlenecks.
• Measure and improve flow efficiency.
• Use real-time data to coach and mentor.
• Display time directly on cards with custom fields.
• Fine-tune WIP limits with evidence, not guesswork.

In short? It’s your Kanban team’s secret weapon for delivering better, faster, and with full transparency.

[Daniel Ajenjo]

great article @Iryna Komarnitska_SaaSJet_ !