---
title: "Aging Work in Progress"
canonical: "https://support.55degrees.se/space/SP/4300472321/Aging%20Work%20in%20Progress"
format: markdown
---
[Jira Cloud & Data Center] [azure devops] [standalone]

> *"Stop starting, start finishing." - Gene Kim*

### Aging Work

The Aging Work in Progress chart tells you information about **work that is currently in progress**.   
If you look at this chart frequently, perhaps at your **daily scrums or stand-ups**, you can manage your work so that it **never gets older than it should**.

> ℹ️ When a work item is in progress, it appears on this chart until it is finished, upon which it shows on your cycle time scatterplot instead.

![Screenshot 2026-06-04 at 13.42.20.png](media://822968bb-0216-4ed3-8942-b9366e997b73)

If you have a service level agreement (SLA) or service level expectation (SLE), you can utilize this chart to help you better adhere to them. Even if you don't have an SLA or SLE, this chart can help you spot work that is getting older than it should.

### Uses

- **Spotting stuck or slow work early - **helps you catch bottlenecks, blocked items, or stalled work before they cause missed deadlines.
- **Prioritizing tasks in daily meetings - **guides the team's conversation toward swarming and finishing aging work rather than starting new work.
- **Comparing current work to past success - **provides immediate context on whether your current tasks are on track or at risk of falling behind.


### Reading the Chart

Each data point represents a work item currently in progress. The placement of it tells you two things:

1. What **workflow stage** the item is currently in. (horizontal axis)
2. The **cumulative age** of the work item. (vertical axis)

![Screenshot 2026-06-04 at 13.53.55.png](media://b9e60362-d799-4acb-b62f-c84d253d5d1e)

The **workflow stages** shown, are the ones you've configured for this data set.   
The **age** of your current work in progress, accumulates from when it entered the first ‘In progress’ workflow stage, until now. 

The age is calculated as: **Today's date - Start date +1**.

If a data point has a number on it, it means there are multiple items with that age in that particular workflow stage. 


**Information for individual work items**

When you **hover** over a data point, you’ll see the start date, current age and the work item number(s).

Upon** clicking** a data point, a small window pops up with more information on each work item.   
You can **open the work item in a new tab** by clicking the heading with the work item number, see screenshot (marked in red).

Clicking anywhere else on the chart makes the information go away.

![Screenshot 2026-06-04 at 14.42.02.png](media://b66133a7-87fc-4460-a7cb-f4b07ef3805f)

In the example image above, the work item's current age is 2 days, while the workflow stages shows it's only spent 1 day in ‘in progress’. The two numbers are different because we always add 1 to the Age, (just like we do with cycle time,) so that nothing has the age of 0. The minimum age on this chart is thereby 1.

### Analyzing the Chart

![Screenshot 2026-06-10 at 16.39.20.png](media://2edf0280-07e4-45f3-a8bc-ae8d59aaa523)

When looking at this chart, it's natural to ask, *"Where should I focus my attention?"*

You might instinctively look at the oldest items or those nearing completion. While those can certainly warrant attention, don't overlook the items that have only recently entered the workflow. Some may already be showing early warning signs that they could become problematic if left unchecked.

Here are a few questions and observations to explore with your team as you review the chart:

- If an item is in the **red** in the first active stage ('In progress' in the image above), it means that it’s **older than 95% of the work **that has gone through here before. That’s a sign that something is different.

> ➡️**  Ask your team:**
> 
> - What is going on here? *(There may be missing information, unresolved dependencies, or work that wasn't truly ready to start.)*
> 
> - Why is this item currently in progress?
> 
> If the item isn't ready, consider moving it back to the backlog until it is. This is especially valuable early in the workflow, where returning work is less disruptive than allowing it to age and create delays later on.

- If there are items that are so old that nobody knows why, or if they’re not still relevant (or still have value), then it’s **ok to close them** **and add a resolution **(this way, they can be excluded from the analysis).
- If the piece is **old because it’s too big**, then the conversation should be around understanding how much work is left, breaking it down, and starting anew with the smaller items.

> ℹ️ **The goal of this chart is to help the team maintain control of its workflow.**
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ By identifying and addressing outliers, you can reduce their number over time. While it may not be possible to eliminate every outlier, the fewer you have, the more concentrated your work item ages will become. This, in turn, leads to a tighter cycle time distribution and greater predictability.
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ More importantly, this chart should be a catalyst for discussion and action. It should guide the team's conversations, helping them identify risks early, understand why work is aging, and make decisions that improve flow.
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ If an item appears to be becoming an outlier, don't wait for it to become a problem. Use the chart to ask questions, uncover obstacles, and take action before predictability is impacted.

As you use this chart regularly and let it drive your team discussions, you should start to see meaningful improvements in your workflow.

Work in progress (WIP) should decrease because the team focuses only on items that are truly ready and can actively move forward. You'll see fewer outliers, aging items will be addressed sooner, and the oldest work items will increasingly be the ones closest to completion.

Over time, these changes lead to a healthier flow, shorter and more predictable cycle times, and greater confidence in your forecasts.

Perhaps most importantly, this chart makes progress visible. It provides a clear way to see whether your flow management practices are working and whether the team is becoming more predictable over time.

> ℹ️ **Bonus:** This chart is surprisingly good at finding "ghost" work.
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ You may discover items that were forgotten on another board, abandoned after priorities changed, or simply left in an in-progress state long after work stopped. These items quietly age in the background, skewing your data and inflating your WIP.
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ Regularly reviewing the chart helps you uncover these forgotten items, clean up your workflow, and ensure your metrics reflect what's actually happening rather than what's merely recorded in the system.

---

### Aging WIP Chart Controls

The Aging WIP chart has a couple of controls that are unique to it, so we’ll be covering them first.

> Macro (refined-tabs)
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> [NEW]
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-08-20 at 16.15.52.png](media://531c6bd3-bc16-47dc-bf2e-baf9fda5440b)
> 
> Together, these insights show if your current work in progress is **healthy, at risk, or stuck** — and what to do about it.
> 
> - The **Age Summary** clearly shows the current amount of active work, it’s average and total age, plus the oldest item.
> - **Pacing **illustrates work items that are at risk of ageing, falling behind and the Workflow Stage with the most concentrated amount of ageing items.
> - The **Blocked & Stalled **Insight conveys items that are currently blocked, stalled and the combined age of these items.
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> Done Percentiles show you what** percentage **of** past work items **were** completed in X number of days or less. **
> 
> On the Aging WIP chart, these horizontal dotted lines are the **same as **on the** Cycle Time Scatterplot. **
> 
> For example, if your 85th percentile line sits at 9 days, it means that historically, **85% of your team's work items were completed in 9 days or less **(see screenshot below).
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-06-05 at 08.45.40.png](media://f6f1c92c-fbe3-41ed-94d7-d57f4379e38e)
> 
> > ℹ️ **Pro Tip**
> > ℹ️ 
> > ℹ️ These are the lines that make it easy to see how we are doing against our expectations (SLAs, SLEs or otherwise). If an item is very early in the workflow but it is already 16 days old, it is realistic to assume that it will not be compliant with the 20-day SLE. 
> > ℹ️ 
> > ℹ️ Using this chart and keeping up with progress as compared to expectations can help you ensure you make the right choices from day-to-day. For instance, at the daily meeting, you might decide to work on an item that is in danger of breaching its SLE instead of a different item that you might have otherwise chosen.
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> A **pace percentile** is a visual warning system, shown as colored bands on your Aging Work in Progress chart.   
> It compares the speed of your *current* active work against your *past* performance.
> 
> ⚖️ **Stage-by-stage comparison:** While done percentiles look at the total time a task takes from start to finish, pace percentiles apply those same percentages to **each individual step** of your workflow.
> 
> 🚩** Early warning signals:** As an item sits in a specific column, it moves up through the different colored percentile bands as it gets older. If a work item hits the higher percentile colors, it means it is spending more time in that specific stage than most of your past work did.
> 
> **How the color bands are calculated**
> 
> The color bands are created by applying the done percentile lines to the individual column.    
> Let's look at the **Dev Active column** in the example below:
> 
> - Dark green: 50% of the items moved out of this column at 2 days old or less.
> - Light green: 70% of items moved out at 7 days old or less.
> - Yellow: 85% of items moved out at 9 days old or less
> - Orange: 95% of items moved out at 14 days old or less
> - Red: An item in this colored band is spends more time in this column than 95% of work.
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-06-04 at 11.43.22.png](media://1793d28b-a02b-46ee-81a4-d685d368e610)
> 
> You can choose which percentile lines you'd like to base the pace percentiles off of and you can choose which color scheme you want to use, under the Chart controls for This chart in the right navigation.
> 
> > ℹ️ Keep in mind, if you have less than 10 issues completed, the Pace percentile controls won’t be available as we need at least 10 completed items for the calculations.
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> You highlighted data points that have been **stuck in one workflow stage for more than a certain amount of days.**
> 
> In the right side panel, check the "Highlight Stalled Items" option and change the number to what is appropriate for your needs. You can also choose what shape you would like the highlighted data points to have. In the screenshot below, the square shaped data points, highlight work that has been in one workflow stage for more than 15 days.
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-06-05 at 08.53.05.png](media://6e1e8778-bf4a-479e-b109-8cdddb5f6b73)
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> If you want to see what the chart looked like on a previous day you can use the Aging Replay option, below the chart. 
> 
> > ℹ️ Pro tip: Use the Aging Replay to compare the status of your work in progress at the start of the sprint vs. the end.
> 
> ![Aging replay.png](media://7b6f0f24-dd5d-4fef-ae3b-26d68b5b9634)
> 
> To use it, click and drag the slider to the day you want to see. If you want to see the movement over time, move the slider slowly and watch the chart change. 
> 
> If the numbers on the vertical axis increase as you move to earlier dates, it means the work is not aging as much as it used to. Alternatively, if it decreases then your work is aging more than it used to.
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> You can choose to have a horizontal line show up wherever you move your cursor by checking the "Cycle Time" configuration option. This will show you what age at your current mouse location.
> 
> ![AginChart-Cursor.png](media://b0625c22-6702-4922-9ed9-3e4d2568b6a0)
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> The dots on the chart can be colored based on any available item filter (Attribute). The options to choose from should be identical to the options available in your item filter. The list is compromised of the columns following the workflow stages in your .
> 
> You can select a filter type (e.g. Team), then select which color you want for each of the options in that filter (Team 1, Team 2, Team 3 etc.) [Source Data](https://support.55degrees.se/space/SP/4313251871) . 
> 
> - Select Attribute: Select which attribute you wish to assign colors to.
> - Auto-Assign All: Simplify adding colors to your attributes by auto-assigning them.
> - Reset All: Reset all of the dot colors assigned to your attributes.
> - Individual Attribute Colors: Pick a color for the dot of each individual attribute.
> - Individual Attribute Assign: Assign the color of the dot of each individual attribute.
> - Individual Attribute Reset: Reset the dot color of individual attributes.
> - Default Dot Color: Choose the default color of the dots.
> - Default Color Palette: Choose a color palette that will be the default for your dots.
> 
> ![image](media://598ccd50-eb54-4a81-b2ed-86eaa7c4ec32)
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> Below the Aging WIP chart, you’ll find the Data Control, which shows you the historical cycle time data used to calculate the Done percentiles.
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-06-01 at 14.17.29.png](media://c3a3dcf4-f469-49e2-a722-9fb6e1be674b)
> 
> To narrow the data used to calculate the percentiles, simply click and drag your mouse across the data points of interest in the Data Control, and your chart percentiles will update accordingly.
> 
> If you don’t see the Data Control, it has been hidden. To show it, click the icon in the top right corner of the chart.
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-06-01 at 14.14.44.png](media://d6b257ad-bf16-4778-b3fa-0ec03e63713f)
> 
> > ℹ️ **Want to zoom in on the chart? **
> > ℹ️ 
> > ℹ️ You can zoom in on the chart itself, without triggering a re-calculation of percentiles.
> > ℹ️ 
> > ℹ️ If you use the Data control to zoom in, it will re-calculate those automatically.

### General Chart Controls

> Macro (refined-tabs)
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> This All Charts Control designates which Workflow Stages are considered [not started],  [in progress] and [finished]. Work items within each Workflow Stage will adhere to that sorting and count toward the calculations of Cycle Time, Throughput, WIP and Age. 
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-05-21 at 10.56.54.png](media://d1627076-111c-46cc-bee3-f0c24e327116)
> 
> The Workflow Stages are colour-coded so you can easily tell where the workflow starts and ends. Unchecking from the top down creates a later start, unchecking from the bottom up makes an earlier finish. Unchecking in the middle will merge your Workflow Stage with the one above - it will *not* remove or delete time spent in that Workflow Stage. 
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-05-21 at 10.56.04.png](media://988c6009-ffe3-4fda-bcd2-5ff7dea7889a)
> 
> On the Aging Work in Progress chart, you only see the workflow stages considered as [in progress] (marked in blue), and the work items in those stages. 
> 
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> This All Charts Control allows you to choose static dates or rolling period of time, so you can see data from a specific date range. Every Flow Insight will adhere to the date range that you choose. 
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-05-20 at 15.50.03.png](media://f9765862-eba8-4106-a5b7-b13751afb396)
> 
> - To get **Static Dates**, select directly on the Visible Period’s calendar or manually enter the dates you want in the designated boxes below. These dates will remain the same, hence the *static*.
> - For a **Rolling Period**, pick one of the pre-made options to the right of the Visible Period’s calendar. This period will update to the current day, hence the *rolling*.
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> This All Charts Control gives you the option to narrow down the data you’re analysing by attribute - this includes any Custom Fields brought in during the data set creation process.
> 
> If you want to clear your filters so that all data show up again, you click the 'Clear all' button. 
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-05-21 at 11.04.41.png](media://0a0f22ba-1c09-475d-969e-73657e0829fa)