Work Item Age

Work Item Age is the elapsed time from the defined start of an unfinished work item to the current measurement point. It shows how long current work has already been in the system and continues to increase until the item is finished. It is a snapshot of open work, not a completed Cycle Time.

Use Work Item Age to surface ageing, blocked or at-risk work early and compare it with a service level expectation or historical Cycle Time distributions.

Work Item Age is considered only shortly before a deadline or confused with active touch time. Without a consistent start point and work-item context, a high value can be misread.