How to find stuck work in Jira

Work rarely gets stuck loudly. It sits “In progress” a little longer every day until someone asks in a meeting. Here is how to spot it early, using nothing but the history Jira already keeps.

“Old” is not the same as “stuck”

A work item open for ten days is fine in a team that usually takes two weeks, and alarming in a team that usually takes two days. The only fair yardstick is your own team’s pace: how long work usually takes once someone starts it.

Measure your team’s usual pace

1. Take the work items finished in the last twelve weeks.
2. For each one, measure the time from its first move to an in-progress status until it was done. That is its cycle time.
3. Note the median (half of the work finishes faster) and the 85th percentile (85% finishes faster).

Compare what is running now

• Below the median: flowing, nothing to do.
• Between the median and the 85th percentile: slowing. Worth a glance at stand-up.
• Above the 85th percentile: stuck. Worth a conversation today.

Doing it in Jira

A JQL filter can list work in progress, but it cannot compare each item with your usual pace. Clearlane Pulse does the measuring for you: it reads your status history, works out your pace, and places every item in progress on one lane, flowing, slowing or stuck, in plain words.

What to do with stuck work

• Ask what is blocking it, not who is slow.
• Split it if it turned out bigger than expected.
• Stop starting new work until the stuck item moves.