Active Branches Metric

Definition

The Active Branches Metric measures the number of branches that remained open (i.e., unmerged or not closed) by the end of the specified time window and had recorded activity within the stale period leading up to that point.

A branch is considered active if:

• It had commits, PRs, or merges within the stale period, regardless of whether those contributions came from the original contributor or others.
• It was not merged or closed by the end of the specified time window.

Why is This Metric Useful?

• This metric provides insight into the volume of concurrent work and helps assess whether branch activity aligns with team capacity. Monitoring active branches ensures effective workload distribution and reduces the risk of bottlenecks
• This metric helps track ongoing development work and gauge branch activity over time.

How to Use it?

• Ensure the number of active branches matches your team’s capacity to avoid overloading contributors.
• Identify branches nearing the stale period to address potentially abandoned work.

Examples for Context

• High active branch counts often indicate phases of intense feature development or multiple concurrent tasks.
• Monitoring active branches during sprints helps align activity with sprint goals.

Calculation

• Active Branches = Number of branches with recorded activity in the time window + Stale branches still open/unmerged within the stale period.

Tunable Configurations

• Filters for branch type (e.g., feature, hotfix)
• Adjustable stale period to determine which inactive branches are still considered active.