Glossary
Cycle time
What is cycle time?
Cycle time is the total time from the start of a process to its end, including the waiting between steps.
Why it matters
Much of a process’s time often sits in handoffs, queues and rework rather than in the work itself. Speeding up individual steps rarely helps if the waits stay.
Example
An invoice that takes 20 minutes of actual work can still take three weeks to pay because it waits on approvals and missing purchase orders.
Learn more
Guide · DecideWhen to use an AI agent: sort every step into four bucketsDelete, plain code, agent or human: a decision tree for every step, with real data and a worked example.Guide · ProveHow to measure AI impact and ROI: cycle time, quality and cost per taskTake a baseline, track five measures per workflow, and show the board what AI changed.