Cycle spillover
The Cycle spillover report measures how much work in the current cycle has rolled over from previous cycles. Use this metric to identify stuck issues, chronic over-commitment, or issues with work estimation.
Note: Cycle spillover is only available when Linear is connected to DX.
When to use cycle spillover
Cycle spillover answers the question: How much work is rolling over from the past?
This report helps teams:
- Identify stuck issues — Spot issues that have been carried across multiple cycles without being completed.
- Detect chronic over-commitment — High spillover may indicate the team is consistently taking on more than it can deliver.
- Improve estimation accuracy — Recurring spillover on certain types of work can reveal estimation blind spots.
How spillover percentage is calculated
The spillover percentage is calculated as:
Spillover work ÷ Total work
Where:
- Spillover work is the story point/issue count for issues that were in a previous cycle before appearing in the current cycle
- Total work is the story point/issue count for all issues in the cycle
An issue counts as spillover if this is not the first cycle the issue has been attempted in. If an issue appeared in any prior cycle, it is marked as spillover work. Cycle spillover can be calculated based on either story points or issue counts.
How cycle spillover relates to other cycle metrics
Cycle spillover provides insight into why cycle predictability or cycle completion may be suffering:
- High spillover + low completion — Suggests the team is carrying forward work it cannot close out, creating a compounding backlog.
- High spillover + high volatility — Indicates both old and new work are competing for capacity, putting pressure on the cycle.
- Low spillover — Suggests the team is completing work within its original cycle, indicating healthy throughput and realistic planning.