Author deep-dives

Understanding the contributor view

Clicking any row in the Authors table opens the author deep-dive: a detailed view of a single contributor's patterns, compared against their own pre-AI baseline. This is the most granular view in Scryable.

A note on how to use this view. The author deep-dive is designed to help managers understand patterns and have better conversations, not to rank or judge contributors. A developer with elevated churn may be working on the most experimental part of the codebase. A developer with low commit density may be doing important work that doesn't show up in git. Use this view to ask better questions, not to reach conclusions.

The metrics grid

The top of the author view shows ten metrics in a grid, each displayed with the current value and a comparison against the contributor's pre-AI baseline. The comparison shows both the baseline figure and the percentage change.

The metrics are the same ones described in Metrics explained, applied to a single contributor rather than the full team. The most useful comparison is usually churn: has this contributor's churn ratio risen materially since AI adoption, and if so, by how much relative to the team average?

Rolling averages chart

The rolling averages chart shows a contributor's commit frequency over time, smoothed across three windows: 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days. The dashed line shows their pre-AI daily average.

The three rolling windows serve different purposes. The 7-day line is the most reactive: it shows recent momentum clearly, but spikes and quiet periods show up as sharp movements. The 30-day line is the most stable: it smooths out weekly variation to show the overall trend. The 14-day line sits between them.

What to look for

A contributor whose 30-day rolling average is consistently above the pre-AI baseline line is shipping more on a sustained basis. Short spikes that don't translate into a rising 30-day average suggest burst activity without sustained change. A declining 30-day average despite higher burst scores may indicate that large AI-assisted pushes are being partially reverted or replaced shortly after.

Hour of week heatmap

The heatmap shows when a contributor commits across the week. Days of the week run vertically; hours of the day run horizontally. Darker cells indicate more commits at that day-hour combination. Two heatmaps are shown side by side: the current period (in purple) and the pre-AI baseline period (in green).

What to look for

Most contributors show a clear cluster of activity during working hours on weekdays. What's interesting is how this pattern changes post-baseline. A spread of activity into late evenings or weekends can indicate that AI tools are encouraging longer or more irregular working patterns. This is worth noting alongside the Weekend % metric.

A heatmap that has become more concentrated (darker cells in a narrower window) suggests that a contributor is achieving more in less time. A heatmap that has spread out suggests the opposite: more activity spread across more hours.

Compare the two heatmaps by looking at the density of the pattern overall, not just individual cells. Small differences are noise. A shift in the overall shape of the pattern is the signal.

Returning to the overview

Use the Back to overview button in the top-right of the author view to return to the team overview. The date range and filter selections you had active are preserved when you navigate between views.