Instead of traditional agile boards like Jira or Trello, the activity pipe board uses dynamic filters and updates itself automatically as issues and pull requests progress. This developer-oriented approach provides real-time visibility into your team's workflow without manual updates.

Understand the Activity Pipe Board

Pre-configured activity pipe boards follow a common developer-oriented flow:

  • Todo: Issues waiting to be implemented. An issue disappears from this column as soon as a pull request relates to it.
  • In Development: Pull requests actively being worked on appear here automatically.
  • In Review: When a pull request gets a reviewer assigned, it moves from "in development" to this column.
  • Mergeable: Pull requests with green builds and enough approvals move here, ready to be merged.
  • Done: Recently closed issues and pull requests, plus any open issue with related pull requests merged (Resolution state = Implemented).

The board updates dynamically based on the actual state of your work, eliminating the need for manual status updates.

How to Use the Activity Pipe Board

The purpose of this board is not to replace your standard agile board (e.g., Jira, Trello). Instead, use it as a tool for tracking pull requests based on their contextual status.

Customization Options

You can fully customize the activity pipe board:

  • Add or remove columns: Support up to 10 columns to match your workflow
  • Edit filters: Customize what appears in each column
  • Create custom views: For example, add a "In Development (Stuck)" column to list all open pull requests that haven't been updated in the last three days

This approach allows you to immediately see which pull requests need your attention and identify bottlenecks in your development process.

Looking to Monitor Your Own Activity Pipe?

As a software engineer, you may want to track this metric at an individual level to keep track of your own activities. This version of the template comes with a filter automatically applied to allow you to monitor your own Activity Pipe, giving you a personal view of your work in progress.