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Understanding the Pulse View

Track and analyze development progress by linking project management issues with real-time Git activity in Pulse View.

Steven Silverstone
Updated by Steven Silverstone

Overview

The Pulse View in LinearB provides a comprehensive visualization of development progress by integrating project management (PM) issues (from Jira or Shortcut) with actual Git activity occurring on related branches. This integration helps teams track work progress effortlessly and minimizes the manual effort required to update PM issues.

Each Pulse report is team-specific, meaning only issues linked to a particular team will be displayed. To activate Pulse, teams must be connected to Jira or Shortcut PM boards.

Setting Up Pulse View

To get started with Pulse View, follow these steps:

1. Creating, Editing, and Deleting Teams

Teams must be set up in LinearB before using Pulse. Learn how to manage teams in this guide.

2. Connecting Project Management Boards

To ensure Git activity is mapped correctly to PM issues, teams must connect their Jira or Shortcut boards. Follow the PR naming convention, ensuring each branch and pull request (PR) contains the corresponding issue ID. Read more about setting up boards here.

In order for LinearB to correctly map git activity to PM issues, please follow standard PR naming conventions, specifically including the Jira or Shortcut issue ID in your Git branches and/or PRs

Using Pulse View

Filtering the Pulse Report

To access Pulse:

  1. Click the Pulse tab.
  2. Select the team whose activity you want to review.
  3. Use the filters to narrow down issues by:
    • Issue Type
    • Issue Status
    • Issue ID or Title (search functionality)

Understanding Pulse Data

Pulse View includes the following key data points:

PM Issue Details
  • Issue Name, Story Points, and Status – Update issue status directly from LinearB using the dropdown menu

Contributors

  • List of developers who contributed to an issue through commits, opening PRs, merging, or releasing code.
PR Size and Code Changes
  • This number is the combined number of code changes (counted in lines of code) that were recorded for all the PRs that are associated with an issue. You also see the number of repositories that the branches linked to this issue are touching.
Branches
  • Active Branches – Branches in the coding or open PR stage.
  • Merged Branches – Branches that have been merged into the base branch.
  • Released Branches – Merged branches that have been marked as deployed.

Issue Timeline

A daily summary of Git activity related to an issue, categorized as:

  • Work (Purple) – Commits, PRs opened, and reviews.
  • Completions (Green) – Merges and releases.
Subtasks: Git activity associated with subtasks is bundled under the parent story in Pulse View. However, subtasks are not displayed separately.

Hovering on each day will display the branch/PR activity breakdown for that day, including the name of the PR, activity, and contributor.

Unlinked Branches

Unlinked branches are Git branches created by your team that are not associated with any project management (PM) issue. These branches are listed at the bottom of your Pulse page and need to be linked manually to ensure accurate tracking of development progress.

Linking branches to PM issues allows for:

  • Better visibility into work progress within Pulse View.
  • Accurate synchronization between Git activity and PM tools (Jira or Shortcut).
  • Reduced manual effort in updating issues.

To link a branch to a PM issue, follow these steps:

  1. Locate the unlinked branch at the bottom of your Pulse page.
  2. Click on the branch to open its details.
  3. Update the branch name or PR name by including the corresponding PM issue ID (e.g., feature/ABC-123-new-dashboard).
Best Practices for Linking Branches
  • Always include the issue ID in the branch name when creating new branches.
  • If a branch is already created, update the PR name to include the issue ID before merging.
  • Ensure that all team members follow the PR naming conventions to avoid unlinked branches in the future.
Pulse Retroactive View

The Pulse Retroactive View allows teams to analyze past iterations by selecting a previous sprint or week from the iteration filter at the top of the Pulse page. This provides a detailed report of development activity, enabling teams to evaluate their performance and improve future planning.

Key Metrics in the Retroactive View

Planning Accuracy – How Much Work Was Completed?

Planning accuracy measures the percentage of planned work completed within an iteration. This metric helps teams assess whether they are overcommitting or undercommitting to tasks.

  • Formula: Completed Issues / Planned Issues)×100
  • Guidelines:
    • < 70% → Over-commitment risk (too much work planned, not enough completed).
    • > 95% → Under-commitment risk (team may not be utilizing full capacity).
Delivery – How Well Did We Complete Our Planned Tasks?

The delivery breakdown categorizes all completed and incomplete tasks during an iteration.

  • Completed – Story points or issues that were planned and finished within the sprint.
  • Unplanned – Story points or issues added and completed after the sprint began. (Note: This does not include unplanned issues that were not completed.)
  • Uncompleted – Story points or issues that were planned but not finished during the sprint.
  • Planned – Story points or issues added before or within 24 hours of a sprint beginning.
Investment Profile – What Type of Work Was Completed?

The investment profile visualizes how work is distributed across different issue types. This data is sourced from the team’s project management platform (Jira or Shortcut) and helps teams understand how their effort is allocated.

People Effort – How Many Team Members Contributed?

This metric measures the percentage of active contributors in an iteration.

  • A team member is considered "active" if they are assigned to an issue when it reaches the "Done" status.
  • Formula:(Active Contributors / Total Developers)×100
  • This helps gauge team participation and workload distribution.
Delivery Breakdown – What Issues Did We Work On?

A detailed list of all issues from the last iteration is displayed on the right side of the page, categorized by their status.

  • Click “View more” next to any segment to see all relevant issues.
  • Clicking on an issue redirects you to Jira or Shortcut, allowing deeper exploration of task details.

By reviewing these metrics in the Pulse Retroactive View, teams can gain insights into past performance, identify improvement areas, and optimize future sprints. 🚀

How did we do?

Understanding Pulse Alerts

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