diff --git a/dxm/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/dxm/PcpMmvWriter.java b/dxm/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/dxm/PcpMmvWriter.java
index bfc15184..dbbd2a8f 100644
--- a/dxm/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/dxm/PcpMmvWriter.java
+++ b/dxm/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/dxm/PcpMmvWriter.java
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@ public void putBytes(ByteBuffer buffer, String value) {
     private volatile State state = State.STOPPED;
     private final Monitor stateMonitor = new Monitor();
     private final Monitor.Guard isStarted = stateMonitor.newGuard(() -> state == State.STARTED);
+    private volatile Duration maxWaitStart = Duration.ofSeconds(10);
     private volatile boolean usePerMetricLock = true;
     private final Map<PcpValueInfo,ByteBuffer> perMetricByteBuffers = newConcurrentMap();
     private final Object globalLock = new Object();
@@ -231,7 +232,6 @@ public PcpMmvWriter(ByteBufferFactory byteBufferFactory, IdentifierSourceSet ide
         this.instanceDomainStore = mmvVersion.createInstanceDomainStore(identifierSources, stringStore);
         this.mmvVersion = mmvVersion;
         this.metricNameValidator = mmvVersion.createMetricNameValidator();
-
         registerType(String.class, MMV_STRING_HANDLER);
     }
 
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ public final void updateMetric(MetricName name, Object value) {
         if (state == State.STARTED) {
             doUpdateMetric(name, value);
         } else if (state == State.STARTING) {
-            if (stateMonitor.enterWhenUninterruptibly(isStarted, Duration.ofSeconds(10))) {
+            if (stateMonitor.enterWhenUninterruptibly(isStarted, maxWaitStart)) {
                 // Leave the monitor immediately because we only care about being notified about the state change
                 stateMonitor.leave();
                 doUpdateMetric(name, value);
@@ -422,6 +422,15 @@ public void setFlags(Set<MmvFlag> flags) {
         this.flags = EnumSet.copyOf(flags);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Sets the maximum amount of time to wait for the writer to start when attempting to update a metric.
+     *
+     * @param maxWaitStart the maximum amount of time to wait
+     */
+    public void setMaxWaitStart(Duration maxWaitStart) {
+        this.maxWaitStart = Preconditions.checkNotNull(maxWaitStart, "maxWaitStart cannot be null");
+    }
+
     private synchronized void addMetricInfo(MetricName name, Semantics semantics, Unit<?> unit,
                                             Object initialValue, TypeHandler<?> pcpType) {
         if (metricData.containsKey(name)) {
diff --git a/parfait-agent/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/AgentMonitoringView.java b/parfait-agent/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/AgentMonitoringView.java
index a6cb7a34..5312a4ce 100644
--- a/parfait-agent/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/AgentMonitoringView.java
+++ b/parfait-agent/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/AgentMonitoringView.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 import io.pcp.parfait.ValueSemantics;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
 
 import javax.management.AttributeNotFoundException;
@@ -73,6 +74,7 @@ public void start() {
         writer = new PcpMmvWriter(name, IdentifierSourceSet.DEFAULT_SET);
         writer.setClusterIdentifier(MonitoringViewProperties.getCluster());
         writer.setFlags(EnumSet.of(PcpMmvWriter.MmvFlag.MMV_FLAG_PROCESS));
+        writer.setMaxWaitStart(Duration.ofMillis(MonitoringViewProperties.getWriterWait()));
 
         DynamicMonitoringView view;
         view = new DynamicMonitoringView(registry, 
diff --git a/parfait-agent/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/MonitoringViewProperties.java b/parfait-agent/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/MonitoringViewProperties.java
index a5532514..13f5dce6 100644
--- a/parfait-agent/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/MonitoringViewProperties.java
+++ b/parfait-agent/src/main/java/io/pcp/parfait/MonitoringViewProperties.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 import java.lang.management.ManagementFactory;
 import java.util.Collections;
 
-import io.pcp.parfait.DynamicMonitoringView;
 import io.pcp.parfait.dxm.HashingIdentifierSource;
 import io.pcp.parfait.dxm.IdentifierSource;
 
@@ -31,15 +30,18 @@ public class MonitoringViewProperties {
     private static final String INTERVAL = "interval";
     private static final String STARTUP = "startup";
     private static final String CONNECT = "connect";
+    private static final String WRITER_WAIT = "writer.wait";
 
     public static final String PARFAIT_NAME = PARFAIT + "." + NAME;
     public static final String PARFAIT_CLUSTER = PARFAIT + "." + CLUSTER;
     public static final String PARFAIT_INTERVAL = PARFAIT + "." + INTERVAL;
     public static final String PARFAIT_STARTUP = PARFAIT + "." + STARTUP;
     public static final String PARFAIT_CONNECT = PARFAIT + "." + CONNECT;
+    public static final String PARFAIT_WRITER_WAIT = PARFAIT + "." + WRITER_WAIT;
 
     private static final String DEFAULT_INTERVAL = "1000"; // milliseconds
     private static final String DEFAULT_CONNECT = "localhost:9875";
+    private static final String DEFAULT_WRITER_WAIT_MS = "10000";
 
     public static String getCommandBasename(String command) {
         // trim away arguments, produce a generally sanitized basename
@@ -139,6 +141,14 @@ public static String getDefaultConnection() {
         return connect;
     }
 
+    public static String getDefaultWriterWait() {
+        String writerWait = System.getProperty(PARFAIT_WRITER_WAIT);
+        if (writerWait == null || writerWait.isEmpty()) {
+            return DEFAULT_WRITER_WAIT_MS;
+        }
+        return writerWait;
+    }
+
     public static void setupProperties() {
         String name = getDefaultName(getParfaitName(), getDefaultCommand(), getRuntimeName());
         System.setProperty(PARFAIT_NAME, name);
@@ -154,6 +164,9 @@ public static void setupProperties() {
 
         String connect = getDefaultConnection();
         System.setProperty(PARFAIT_CONNECT, connect);
+
+        String writerWait = getDefaultWriterWait();
+        System.setProperty(PARFAIT_WRITER_WAIT, writerWait);
     }
 
     //
@@ -174,4 +187,13 @@ public static Long getStartup() {
     public static String getConnection() {
         return System.getProperty(PARFAIT_CONNECT);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * The maximum number of milliseconds to wait for PcpMmvWriter to start when attempting to update a metric.
+     *
+     * @return maximum number of milliseconds to wait
+     */
+    public static long getWriterWait() {
+        return Long.parseLong(System.getProperty(PARFAIT_WRITER_WAIT));
+    }
 }