Pre‑Review Code Dev Day Ratio (PRCR)
Pre‑Review Code Dev Day Ratio (PRCR) measures the proportion of developer effort spent producing code before review that is in a pull request and eventually receives a review. This composite metric combines insights from other workflow metrics and reveals the balance between focused development work and collaborative feedback processes.
Calculation
PRCR is typically reported weekly or per sprint using dev-day attribution in minware.
The metric is calculated as:
PRCR = total dev days spent before review on successfully reviewed PRs ÷ total dev days × 100
Goals
PRCR helps teams understand the overall efficiency of their development workflow by combining insights from direct commits, abandoned work, unreviewed merges, and post-review rework. It answers questions such as:
- What percentage of effort goes toward code that follows proper review workflows?
- Are developers working efficiently on code that will be successfully delivered?
- Is the team maintaining good review discipline while preserving development productivity?
A balanced PRCR indicates healthy workflow patterns, but both extremes warrant investigation. High PRCR may indicate rubber-stamp reviews and merging of low-quality work, while numbers below 50% suggest potential workflow inefficiencies.
Variations
PRCR may also be referred to as Reviewed Code Efficiency Ratio or Pre‑Review Workflow Ratio. Common breakdowns include:
- By engineer, to compare individual adherence to review workflows
- By team or repo, to spot varying collaboration and review discipline
- By PR complexity, to see if different change types affect workflow efficiency
- By time period, to track improvements in overall development process health
Tracking these slices helps identify whether workflow patterns represent healthy development practices or signs of review process breakdown.
Limitations
PRCR shows workflow efficiency but doesn't directly measure code quality or the value of review feedback. It's a composite metric that depends on accurate time attribution across all workflow stages and assumes proper categorization of successfully reviewed work. To contextualize PRCR, pair it with:
| Complementary Metric | Why It's Relevant |
|---|---|
| Direct Main Commit Dev Day Ratio (DMR) | Shows what portion of work bypasses review workflows entirely |
| Never Merged Dev Day Ratio (NMR) | Reveals how much effort is wasted on abandoned work |
| [No‑Review PR Dev Day Ratio (NRR)] | Indicates how much merged work lacks proper review |
Optimization
Improving PRCR helps teams achieve efficient development workflows with meaningful review processes:
- Ensure meaningful reviews. If PRCR is too high, investigate whether reviews are rubber-stamp approvals rather than substantive feedback.
- Investigate low ratios. Numbers below 50% may indicate workflow problems that need attention.
- Promote efficient PR workflows. Encourage practices that maximize time spent on code that will be successfully reviewed and merged.
- Monitor workflow balance. Track how DMR, NMR, NRR, and PRR combine to create the overall PRCR picture.
- Address review quality. High PRCR with low review quality suggests teams are merging inadequately reviewed code.
PRCR provides a comprehensive view of development workflow health by combining multiple efficiency signals. Balanced ratios indicate teams are spending their time effectively on code that follows proper review processes and contributes to successful delivery.
