Time estimates do exactly what the label says: a unit of estimation that objectively states “this task should take no more than x hours to complete”. Though scrum teams can also use this, time is the only unit of estimation available to kanban teams.

Time estimates can be used for both work item estimation and time tracking on a board. When tracking progress on a board, Jira looks at the value in the Original Time Estimate field. Learn more about logging time to work items.

By default, time estimates are specified in minutes, but you can use hours, days, or weeks, depending on your Jira system configuration. Learn how to configure time tracking in Jira.