Agile Observer

Proactive agile metrics and team health analysis for Trello and Jira boards. Computes cycle time, throughput, WIP, sprint burndown, aging work items, and blo...

Proactive agile metrics engine for Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches. Analyzes Trello or Jira boards to compute flow metrics, detect problems, and generate health reports.

Workflow

1. Identify platform and credentials. Ask for Trello or Jira. Look for credential files in workspace secrets (trello-credentials.json or jira-credentials.json).
2. List boards/projects. Fetch available boards and let the user choose, or use the one specified.
3. Fetch board data. Pull lists/statuses, cards/issues, and movement history using the API patterns in references.
4. Classify workflow states. Map list names or status categories to: backlog, doing, review, done.
5. Compute metrics. Calculate cycle time, throughput, WIP, aging, and blockers.
6. Generate health report. Assess overall health and add coaching suggestions.

Metrics to Compute

Metric	Formula	Source
Cycle Time (median + P85)	Time from "doing" to "done" per item	Card/issue transition history
Throughput	Items completed in period	Cards/issues moved to done
WIP	Items currently in doing/review	Current board state
Aging WIP	In-progress items with no activity for 5+ days	dateLastActivity or changelog
Blockers	Items with "blocked" label or blocker priority	Labels/flags
Sprint Burndown	Done points vs. committed points (Jira only)	Story points field

List/Status Classification

Map names to workflow states using these patterns (case-insensitive):

• Backlog: backlog, to do, todo, icebox, upcoming
• Doing: doing, in progress, working, development, dev, active
• Review: review, testing, qa, validation, code review
• Done: done, complete, finished, deployed, released, closed

For Jira, use statusCategory.key: new = backlog, indeterminate = doing, done = done.

Health Score Logic

• 🟢 GOOD: No significant issues. Steady flow.
• 🟡 ATTENTION: WIP exceeds 10 items, OR items aging without activity, OR blockers present.
• 🔴 CONCERN: Cycle time median exceeds 7 days, OR multiple blockers, OR very low throughput.

Report Format

📊 Agile Health Report — [Board/Project Name]
Period: last [N] days

🔄 Throughput: [X] items completed
⏱  Cycle Time: Median [X]d | P85 [X]d ([N] items measured)
📋 WIP: [X] items in progress
📈 Sprint Progress: [X]/[Y] points ([Z]%) — Jira only
🚫 Blocked: [X] items — [names]
🧓 Stale: "[item]" (no activity [X]d)

[🟢/🟡/🔴] Health — [summary]

Coaching Suggestions

Include actionable advice based on findings:

• High WIP: "Consider a WIP limit of [team size x 1.5]. What needs finishing before starting something new?"
• Slow cycle time: "Where do items spend the most time? Look at the flow between columns."
• Stale items: "This item hasn't moved in [X] days. Still a priority, or should we park it?"
• Blockers: "What would it take to unblock [item]? Who needs to be involved?"
• Good health: "Flow looks healthy. What's one thing to improve next sprint?"

Platform API Details

• Trello endpoints and patterns: See references/trello-api.md
• Jira endpoints and patterns: See references/jira-api.md
• Detailed metric definitions: See references/metrics.md

Credential Formats

Trello

{"api_key": "...", "token": "..."}

Also accepts: apiKey + apiToken

Jira

{"instance": "mycompany", "email": "[e-mail]", "api_token": "..."}

Scheduling

For automated recurring reports, create a cron job:

• Schedule: weekly Monday 9:00 AM
• Task: Run agile-observer for board [X], deliver report to primary channel