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The direct consequence of elongated Cycle Times is a decrease in Throughput. Throughput is the metric that represents how much work completes per unit of time. A decrease in Throughput therefore means that less work is getting done. The less work that gets done, the less value we deliver.

A further thing to know about Throughput, however, is that this metric as I have defined it here is very different from the Scrum metric of "Velocity". Velocity, as you may know, is measured in terms of Story Points per sprint or iteration. You have to remember, though, that for Throughput I am talking about actual counts of work items (e.g., actual number of discrete stories and not Story Points) per unit of time. As I have just mentioned, the unit of time you choose for Throughput is completely up to you.