IA-03
Age at Activation — Time in Backlog Before Work Started
Issue Age
Default severity: medium
Product BacklogPrioritizationRiskEffort
What it detects
Measures how long issues waited in the backlog before entering active development — the pre-work queue time. Long pre-activation ages indicate poor backlog refinement, insufficient preparation, or items being pulled into sprints without proper readiness (DoD bypass).
Detection formula
FOR each_issue I WHERE first_active_transition EXISTS: activation_age(I) = first_active_transition.date - I.created_at pre_activation_median = MEDIAN(activation_age, all_issues_in_period) IF activation_age(I) > config.ia.max_pre_activation_days // default: 90d THEN FLAG long_queue_wait IF pre_activation_median > config.ia.median_pre_activation_threshold // default: 30d THEN FLAG systemic_backlog_lag Report: distribution of pre-activation ages by team and issue typeExamples in practice
- A team shows measures how long issues waited in the backlog before entering active development while max pre activation days is set to 90d.
- Example signal: Measures how long issues waited in the backlog before entering active development — the pre-work queue time.
Suggested response
Age down old items: shorten time-in-status, clear blockers, and focus high-value ageing work.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
Measures how long issues waited in the backlog before entering active development — the pre-work queue time. Long pre-activation ages indicate poor backlog refinement, insufficient preparation, or items being pulled into sprints without proper readiness (DoD bypass).
Why it matters
When "Age at Activation — Time in Backlog Before Work Started" 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 "Age at Activation — Time in Backlog Before Work Started" 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.