Cycle Time is an overloaded term that is used by different experts to mean different things. I've found avoiding the term and using alternatives the best way to avoid confusing myself and my clients.

1. Why I don't use
Cycle Time in
Kanban
Andy Carmichael
@andycarmich

2. Some people* say Cycle Time (CT1)
is...
the time between delivery of items...
0.5 days in this case
* Ohno, Womack & Jones (1996),
Chew (2000), Liker (2004), Lean
Lexicon (2008) and others

3. Some people* say Cycle Time (CT2)
is...
the time an item stays in the
process...
* Hopp and Spearman (2000),
Reinertsen (2009) and others
5 days in this case

4. I call this Lead Time* (or TIP)
* George (2002), Anderson
(2010) and others
Others use: Time in process (TIP), Flow Time, Wait Time

5. I call this the reciprocal of
Delivery Rate* (or Throughput)
i.e. 2 items per day in this case
* George (2002), Anderson
(2010), Little (2011) and others
Others use: Throughput, Arrival Rate, Rate of Completion

6. Little's Law
Lead Time =
WIP
Delivery Rate
or
TIP =
WIP
Throughput
Note: The bar denotes "average"

7. A nasty special case: when WIP = 1
Little’s Law expressed using the 2 definitions of
Cycle Time is:
CT2 = WIP * CT1
So when WIP=1…
CT2 = CT1
!!!
This special case compounds the confusion
since so often the concepts are explained with
a simple example where WIP = 1

8. Stop starting...
Start finishing