> I would suggest that it should work this way, and that maybe this should be part of the new process focus.
>
> This isn't intended to be demanding -- it could be fairly simple to provide SOME guide to timeframes.  For example, with redmine, you can attach issues to milestones/releases, and give an estimate of time involved.  Redmine will then project time to finish that milestone, drawing a nice chart of issues closed vs. open vs. total time.  If that milestone is three releases away, not being actively worked on, and you have two milestones between, with time estimates for each, then users can STILL see a reasonable timeframe for things, even if it's still updating.

Obviously, no one is interested in such a thing. ;)
But I like the Idea.