Software development leaders should focus on increasing velocity by improving the way their teams get things done. But before they can make an improvement, they must measure it accurately. For this, they need to choose a relevant metric. Lead time and cycle time are the most common metrics for calculating and optimizing software development. Continue reading this page to know more about these metrics:

What to Know About Lead Time for Changes

In software engineering, Lead Time for Changes is the velocity metric used for measuring the amount of time needed to implement, test, and change the codebase of a software product. The measurement starts the moment a code is requested for its deployment into production. This metric provides you with data to make benchmarks on the length of time required for a project to be completed from start to finish. 

What is Cycle Time

This metric measures the speed of development from the start of code work to delivery, production deployment, and market availability. It indicates the velocity of the development process, demonstrating the speed at which your team can deliver products to customers. 

Cycle time serves as the speedometer in engineering. By measuring and improving on this metric, you can innovate faster, beat your competitors, stay in the game, and retain top talent. In fact, cycle time can indicate business success. 

When you measure and improve on Cycle Time, the efficiency of your development team increases. You can deliver value to users quickly, cutting the developer-user feedback loop. Additionally, you can minimize frustration sources for developers as you eliminate process roadblocks. This can positively affect the satisfaction of your team, helping them set in motion. 

By Lead Time for Changes and Cycle Time Must be Measured 

These velocity metrics are essential for tracking in DevOps and help you understand the workflow dynamics of your team. They offer insights into what happens when an order is placed and completed. Also, they indicate the capability of your team to deliver value to customers. 

Measuring Lead Time for Changes allows you to understand how much time it takes for customers to get their orders. Meanwhile, analyzing Cycle Tiem lets you determine your production unit’s overall efficiency. This information helps you spot bottlenecks and inefficiencies that may be slowing down things in production. Reducing these velocity metrics is essential to increase productivity and efficiency as well as reduce costs, which customers value the most.