KPI: PR Throughput

Definition: The rate at which quality PRs are merged to main.

Why This Matters

PR throughput measures productive output. High throughput with maintained quality indicates efficient development. Low throughput suggests blockers in the development pipeline.

Metrics

Primary Metric

PRs Merged Per Session - Count of PRs successfully merged during an agent session.

Supporting Metrics

| Metric | What It Measures | |--------|------------------| | Time to Merge | Latency from PR creation to merge | | Review Cycles | Number of review rounds needed | | First-Pass Approval Rate | PRs approved without changes requested | | Revert Rate | PRs reverted due to issues |

Measurement

During Session

Track:

# Count merged PRs by this agent
gh pr list --state merged --author @me --json number | jq length

Quality Gate

Throughput only counts if:

• PR was not reverted
• Main branch stayed green
• No follow-up fix PRs needed

Target Benchmarks

| Performance | PRs/Session | |-------------|-------------| | Struggling | 0 | | Normal | 1-2 | | High | 3-5 | | Exceptional | 5+ |

Improvement Strategies

1. Scope Down Aggressively

Large PRs take longer to review and have higher failure rates. Target:

• <300 lines changed per PR
• Single logical change per PR
• Clear, focused description

2. Front-load Verification

Run ./verify.sh --ui=false before creating PR. Catching issues early avoids review cycles.

3. Write Good PR Descriptions

Clear descriptions reduce review time:

• What changed and why
• How to test
• Any risks or trade-offs

4. Stack PRs When Possible

For dependent changes, create stacked PRs that can be reviewed in parallel.

5. Address Feedback Promptly

When review feedback arrives, address it immediately while context is fresh.

Blockers to Watch

| Blocker | Detection | Mitigation | |---------|-----------|------------| | Review delay | PR open >1 hour | Request review explicitly | | Verification failures | verify.sh fails | Fix before PR, not after | | Scope creep | PR grows beyond original intent | Split into multiple PRs | | Merge conflicts | Can't merge cleanly | Rebase frequently |

Anti-Patterns

• Quantity over quality - Merging broken code destroys throughput
• Mega-PRs - One 1000-line PR is worse than five 200-line PRs
• Skipping review - Unreviewed code accumulates debt
• Ignoring CI - Broken verification means broken code