Reviewer Responsiveness
Pull Request Lifecycle
hours
Measures how quickly reviewers engage with pull requests.
💡 Like a service desk's first-response time, it measures how quickly your team acknowledges a new code change that needs attention.
What It Measures
Measures how quickly reviewers engage with pull requests.
Why It Matters
Diagnosing if reviewer load is slowing delivery
Assessing team responsiveness to review requests
How It's Calculated
Calculates the median hours between PR creation and the first review action.
MEDIAN(hours(pr_created_at, first_review_action))Concrete Example
If your team's reviewer responsiveness is 2.5 hours, reviewers are typically picking up new reviews within a few hours of the PR being opened.
What Does a Healthy Score Look Like?
Lower is better, fast first review reduces author idle time.
Healthy
Under 2 hours
Watch Out
2–8 hours
Needs Attention
Over 8 hours, significant reviewer delays
What Moves This Metric?
Goes up when…
Reviewers overloaded or assigned too many PRs at once
No clear ownership of review requests
No on-call rotation for review duties
Goes down when…
Designated reviewer schedules ensuring someone is always available
Limiting WIP so reviewers have capacity
Smaller PRs being prioritised for faster handling
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