Standard : Time to First PR

Description

Time to First PR measures the time it takes for a new engineer to open their first pull request after joining a team. It reflects how effective your onboarding process is in enabling engineers to engage with the codebase confidently and quickly.

This metric provides early signals about developer experience, tooling friction, team support, and the clarity of technical documentation.

How to Use

What to Measure

  • Time from the engineer’s official start date (or system account creation) to the creation timestamp of their first pull request (PR).
  • Optionally track whether the PR was merged or required follow-up action.

Formula

Time to First PR = Timestamp of First PR – Start Date

Instrumentation Tips

  • Collect start dates from HR or onboarding systems.
  • Use VCS platforms (e.g. GitHub, GitLab) to track PR timestamps.
  • Segment by role (e.g. backend, frontend, data) or team.

Why It Matters

  • Momentum: Early engagement builds confidence and sets the tone.
  • Signal of readiness: Highlights whether engineers feel empowered to contribute.
  • Feedback loop: Short time to first PR improves collaboration and learning.
  • Onboarding health: Provides a clear, measurable milestone.

Best Practices

  • Provide sample issues or “good first PR” tasks for new joiners.
  • Ensure dev environments are quick to set up and documented.
  • Assign team buddies and reviewers who give fast, helpful feedback.
  • Monitor and discuss onboarding metrics in retros or chapter forums.
  • Track time to first PR alongside first merge or first deployment.

Common Pitfalls

  • Long idle time before engineers open a PR due to unclear expectations or access delays.
  • Over-reliance on documentation without human support.
  • Treating the first PR as symbolic rather than substantive.
  • Lack of visibility into onboarding progress across teams.

Signals of Success

  • New hires open PRs within days, not weeks.
  • Time to first PR is tracked and continuously improving.
  • PRs reflect real contributions, not just boilerplate.
  • Engineers report confidence and clarity early in their journey.
  • [[Onboarding Time]]
  • [[Time to First Contribution]]
  • [[Cycle Time]]
  • [[Developer Satisfaction (DevEx NPS)]]
  • [[Developer Environment Setup Time]]