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Daily effort model (beta)

A beta of an improved way Swarmia calculates developer effort, measured day by day.

This is a beta feature that we're rolling out gradually. It changes how developer effort is calculated, so the numbers it produces can differ from the current effort model. It isn't available to everyone yet. Reach out to us if you'd like early access.

Swarmia is rolling out a new way of calculating developer effort by moving the calculation from a monthly to a daily basis. On the current monthly model, a single busy stretch of just a few days can define a large share of the whole month. The new daily model calculates effort one working day at a time. Every working day counts equally, no matter how much activity happened on it, so a single busy day can't dominate the month.

Monthly model
Monthly model
Daily model
Daily model

The new model is also more flexible. The current model only calculates across a whole month, so a calendar month is the smallest period it can report on. The new daily model produces a value for each working day, so you can look at effort by day or by week, not just by month.

We keep refining the effort model based on the data we gather and real usage, making the model more accurate and easier to understand. The new daily model is part of that work.

How it compares to the current model

Current effort model
Daily effort model (beta)

How effort is calculated

From a whole month's activity in one calculation

Each working day separately, then added together

Inactivity

Only stretches longer than 5 business days are deducted

Every working day without activity lowers effort

Minimum activity

Contributors with fewer than 10 activities a month are excluded

No minimum, even a single event counts

Contributors with only issue-tracker activity (no code)

Excluded, below the minimum

Receive effort from their assigned in-progress days

Activity on pull requests not linked to an issue

Counted at half weight

Counted at full weight

Assigned in-progress issues

Counted

Counted, with more weight

Time-off adjustments and current-month proration

Applied

Applied, unchanged

Two of these changes pull in opposite directions. Dropping the half-weight penalty on unlinked pull requests raises that code work, while giving assigned in-progress issue days more weight raises issue-tracker work. The two roughly cancel out, so the balance between code and issue-tracker work stays close to the current model.

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