IA-02
Time in Current Status Exceeding Expected Duration
Issue Age
Default severity: medium
Product BacklogPrioritizationRiskEffort
What it detects
An issue has been in its current workflow status for longer than the configured maximum expected duration for that status — every status should have a maximum healthy residence time. Detects stuck items before they become UCL outliers.
Detection formula
FOR each_active_issue I: time_in_status = today - changelog.find(field=\'status\', new=I.status, LATEST).date max_expected = config.ia.max_days_per_status\[I.status\] // configurable per status IF time_in_status > max_expected * config.ia.status_age_warning_factor // default: 1.5x THEN FLAG IF time_in_status > max_expected * config.ia.status_age_critical_factor // default: 2.5x THEN CRITICAL Report: issue, current_status, days_in_status, max_expected, excess_daysExamples in practice
- A team shows an issue has been in its current workflow status for longer than the configured maximum expected duration for that status while max days per status is set to Map configured per issue type.
- Example signal: An issue has been in its current workflow status for longer than the configured maximum expected duration for that status — every status should have a maximum healthy residence time.
Suggested response
Age down old items: shorten time-in-status, clear blockers, and focus high-value ageing work.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
An issue has been in its current workflow status for longer than the configured maximum expected duration for that status — every status should have a maximum healthy residence time. Detects stuck items before they become UCL outliers.
Why it matters
When "Time in Current Status Exceeding Expected Duration" keeps appearing, the team is signalling a repeatable process gap. Left unexamined, the pattern hides where work really stalls and makes improvement metrics harder to trust.
What you can achieve
Age down old items: shorten time-in-status, clear blockers, and focus high-value ageing work.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "Time in Current Status Exceeding Expected Duration" from firing again?
- What do the cited issues have in common — same root cause or same workaround?
- Who owns the two-week experiment and how will we verify on the next import?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.