Follow-on commits are code revisions that happen after a PR is opened.
In this article
Which reports use follow-on commits?
Follow-on commits are shown in the pin drawer for each PR when this option is available in reports, or as dots in the visual representation of PRs in reports like Review workflow. These commits contribute to various collaboration metrics, such as Iterated PRs.
See the follow-on commit total count, average, and median across all PRs in PR resolution.
What do follow-on commits measure?
Follow-on commits tell you when and how often code is revised after a PR is opened. It helps you understand your team's collaboration patterns when code needs to be revised.
This metric helps gauge the strength of your code review process. If nothing ever changes because of code reviews, why are you doing them? Similarly, if every PR yields a lot of follow-on commits, then you might benefit from more planning and testing.
Follow-on commits is a Goldilocks metric. This means there's a happy middle ground based on your team's culture. You want to manage this number as it changes, rather than simply up or down. Large or sustained changes in this metric suggest a change in the team's dynamic that should be investigated.
How are follow-on commits calculated?
A follow-on commit is any commit associated with a PR after the initial commit in the PR. The total number of follow-on commits is usually displayed per PR.
Note: Follow-on commit counts are used in calculations for many Flow metrics that measure PR activity after a PR is opened.
What data is included in follow-on commits?
Commits are included in the follow-on commit count if:
- They are associated with the PR
Commits are not included in the follow-on commit count
- They are not associated with the PR
- They are associated with an excluded PR
- They are made by an excluded user
- They are excluded due to outlier detection
- They are manually excluded