Dev Days by Epic
Dev Days by Epic tracks the total amount of development work time, measured via dev days, spent on issues associated with a specific epic. This reveals actual engineering investment by initiative, providing visibility into where teams allocate development capacity.
Calculation
Dev days are computed using minware’s time attribution model, which maps active development activities (such as commits) to tickets and their linked epics based on metadata and time intervals. This aggregation includes coding and related work time automatically attributed via the time model.
The metric is calculated as:
dev days by epic = sum of dev days for all work items linked to a given epic
Goals
Dev Days by Epic helps teams measure and validate alignment between strategic goals and development effort. It answers questions like:
- Which epics are consuming the most engineering time?
- Are we allocating capacity according to roadmap priorities?
- Is time being spent on exploratory or maintenance work at the expense of planned features?
This metric transforms roadmap aspirations into tangible deliverables and surfaces possible misalignment between planning and reality.
Variations
Teams often segment this metric by:
- By sprint or quarter, to compare investment over time
- By role or activity type, such as development vs. code review
- By epic status, differentiating active, paused, or completed epics
- By engineered complexity, such as frontend vs. backend
Some teams also normalize by epic size to measure dev days per story point and assess estimation accuracy.
Limitations
Dev Days by Epic highlights where development time goes but not whether that time delivered value or quality outcomes. It assumes accurate ticket tagging and consistent epic linkage.
To provide better insight, pair it with:
| Complementary Metric | Why It’s Relevant |
|---|---|
| Assigned Time by Epic | Shows total time including non-dev activities like meetings or planning |
| Sprint Rollover Rate | Indicates if multi-sprint work on an epic is causing delays |
| Dev Days per Story Point | Helps compare effort allocation against planning estimates |
Optimization
To better align Dev Days with strategy and delivery intent:
- Maintain strong ticket hygiene. Ensure all work is linked to correct epics to preserve data accuracy
- Balance epic scope. Large epics risk diluting focus; use WIP Limits to keep effort discrete
- Track and compare over time. Regularly compare projected dev days against actual to detect drift
- Refine epic granularity. Split overly large epics that accrue too many dev days to maintain clarity
- Review epic effort in retrospectives. Use discrepancies as opportunities to adjust planning or scope
Dev Days by Epic offers a clear view into how engineering time maps to strategic goals. When used consistently, it informs prioritization, improves forecasting, and drives focused execution.
