The Critical path view
The chains of tickets that decide when the sprint can finish, how far the sprint has got, and the call-outs that need a look.
The Critical path view answers “what decides when this sprint can finish?”. It shows the sprint’s pace in plain counts, then the chains of tickets that wait on each other, ranked by how much risk they put on the sprint, then a short list of things worth a look.
#What you see
| Pace | So far |
|---|---|
| Day | 10 of 14 |
| Code merged | 9 of 18 |
| Product review | 4 of 18 |
| Complete | 5 of 18 |
| Open dependencies | 3 in 2 chains |
Finish the table rename before the nightly job is retired, or the export reads the old tables.
The pace
A strip of figures, each with what it counts: the day of the sprint with a bar for time used, how many tickets have their code merged, how many are in Product review (when you have that column), how many are complete, and how many open dependencies there are in how many chains. Limn counts all of these from the tracker and GitHub. AI does not write any number on this page.
Critical paths
Up to five paths, each one a row of the board. A path is an ordered chain of tickets where one waits on the next. Each row has:
- The risk as a word: High risk, Medium risk or Low risk.
- A short title and one sentence of advice.
- The path’s tickets in their status columns, with the arrows between them drawn as critical.
A ticket on a path that is not in the sprint sits in an extra column on the left, Outside the sprint. That is often the most important card on the page: work your sprint waits on that nobody planned for this sprint.
Call-outs
Under the paths, a short list of tickets worth a look. Each call-out has its ticket keys as buttons.
- Up to three from AI, marked Call-out.
- Limn’s own, from what it has stored: Since you last looked (tickets that changed column, tickets added and pull requests merged since your last visit), Out of step (the tracker and the code disagree: in code review with no open pull request, Complete with one still open, or Not started with one open) and Blocked outside the sprint (sprint tickets that wait on an unfinished ticket outside the sprint).
The count table
At the bottom, Every ticket, by theme and column: every sprint ticket once, counted by theme and status column, with totals. It does not change with the filters.
#What you can do
- Select a ticket on a path, or a key in a call-out, to read its story in the panel on the right.
- Hover over an arrow, or its number, to read why one ticket waits on the other.
- Press Refresh after a big change in the tracker. The paths are worked out again after the next sprint read, and the line under the heading says “Working out the critical paths…” while that runs. Older paths stay on screen, marked Updating, until the new ones arrive.
#When there are no paths
- The sprint needs at least 4 tickets.
- With AI off, the page says there are no critical paths. The pace, call-outs and table still show.
- When AI finds no chain worth naming, the heading reads “No critical paths in this sprint.”
- If a run fails, the page says why and when Limn tries again. It does not try again until the sprint changes.
#Why it helps
Most late sprints are late because of a chain, not a single ticket: a rename that a migration waits on, that a release waits on. A status board shows each ticket alone. This view puts the chain in one row, names the ticket outside the sprint that holds it up, and gives you a few days’ warning. See also The Theme view and The People view.