CAPM Practice: Determine how to prepare and execute task management steps

Cycle time measures how long it takes for an individual work item to move from 'started' to 'done.' Shorter cycle times indicate faster throughput and more frequent feedback opportunities. Tracking cycle time helps teams identify where items slow down (long 'In Progress' times may indicate sizing problems or impediments) and measure the impact of process improvements.

**Why not A:** Total project duration from start to finish describes overall project lead time, not cycle time. Cycle time is a granular, item-level metric used to measure the throughput of individual work items through the process, not the macro-level duration of the entire project. Confusing the two obscures the diagnostic value of cycle time as a tool for identifying flow bottlenecks at the item level.

**Why not B:** The length of a sprint or iteration is simply the time-box duration — a planning parameter, not a flow metric. Cycle time is a measured outcome that reveals how long actual work takes to complete, which may be shorter or longer than the iteration duration. Equating the two would eliminate cycle time's usefulness as a continuous improvement signal.

**Why not D:** The time for a team member to complete their daily tasks describes individual productivity for a day, which is neither a standard metric nor what cycle time measures. Cycle time applies to work items (stories, features, bugs) moving through a workflow from start to done, not to individual team members' daily output. Using cycle time at an individual-task level would conflate a system flow metric with a personal productivity measure.