In TFS, can I use an added 'In Progress' state to determine how long tasks take?

Question

I've modified the Agile task template in TFS to include a new 'In Progress' state. When work is started on an item the 'assigned user' will set the task from 'Active' to 'In Progress'. This helps me to know which tasks have been started.

I was, however, thinking that I might be able to use this new state to figure out how long things take. Is there a way I could get the difference between the 'State Change Date' for 'In Progess' and 'Closed' states?

The out-of-the-box TFS queries seem to be limited.

Answer 1

I am curious as to the answer as well.

One thing to take into account, though, is that if a task runs over a weekend, you would not want those days to be taken into account if you are looking for a measure of "developer days". Taking it a step further, it would be nice to be able to somehow define days that work would not happen on (such as when the office is closed) to get a more accurate reflection of the time spent.

Answer 2

I don't have access to TFS so I am not sure if this is already built can't confirm, but one option you have is to add two new fields to the workitem, for the start and stop dates. You can have the worflow set those variables when you transition into and outof a state.