Lead time measures elapsed time from the start of a work process to completion or delivery. It exposes how process inefficiency affects revenue, customer experience, operating costs, and organizational capacity. section 7.3.1 section 3.1.6
Make lead times explicit by asking:
- How long does a customer wait to receive an order? section 7.3.1
- How long does onboarding take, and how much can that duration vary? section 7.3.1
- Where do multiple tools, handoffs, or outdated workflows increase processing time? section 3.1.6
From commit to production
For build and deployment pipelines, lead time for changes runs from a developer committing code until that code is deployed to production. Automated golden paths can reduce this interval to under an hour, enabling several daily deployments. section 13.2.2
A case-processing bottleneck
Agents using three complex internal tools faced excessive switching and learning costs. Case-processing lead times grew far beyond their necessary level, forcing the organization to consider hiring more agents and modernizing its internal systems. section 3.1.6
