Question
Which unfinished item is getting older without moving?
The work that never finishes cannot improve your completion statistics.
Before you use it
- Use when
- Completed-work averages look healthy while a few important items remain stuck.
- Avoid when
- Age alone does not determine priority or blame. Consider dependencies, risk and the kind of work before escalating.
An idea to explore.
Try this idea.
Inspect the example, try the idea in your situation, then check your next move.
A question to ask
How long has each unfinished item been in the workflow, including waiting, since our agreed start point? What is preventing the aging item from reaching the next useful state, and who can address it?
Why it matters
Completed-work averages describe items that finished. Inspect the age of started, unfinished items as well, including time spent waiting.
An example
Many easy requests close quickly while one approval waits for weeks. Looking at active age exposes what the completed average omits.
Check your result
Did the review lead to action on stalled work rather than simply another status colour?
Keep this limit in mind
- Age alone does not determine priority or blame. Consider dependencies, risk and the kind of work before escalating.
My learning
Read. Recall. Repeat.
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Connected ideas
These ideas link to this one. Check their conditions and limits before use.
Useful with this ideaMake queue overtaking an explicit exception
Evidence and sources (1)
The Kanban Guide defines started-but-unfinished work, item age and a probabilistic service-level expectation against explicit workflow boundaries.
Claim basis: technical_definition. Claim limit: Counts and forecasts need a stable meaning of work item and start/finish; they are not automatic performance targets. Source access: selected_html_passages; accessed on: 2026-09-17; inspected sections: ["Definition of Workflow; active management; flow metrics"]. Source note: Only short original explanations and new examples are used. The page contains differing CC BY-SA and CC BY notices; commercial publication must resolve applicable rights rather than assume unrestricted copying. Agent scope review, 2026-10-11: May 2025 Kanban Guide flow metrics define started unfinished work and its age. This is a descriptive review measure, not a universal escalation threshold or worker-performance score.
The Kanban Guide, May 2025 · Definition of Workflow; Flow Metrics
All sources (1)
Edition and review
Version 0.1.0 · Published
Agent review: Agent editorial and scoped evidence review · 2026-10-11