Chart milestones
Chart milestones are vertical event markers on delivery trend charts. They help engineering managers correlate throughput and lead-time changes with GitHub releases, semver git tags, and manual events you add (launches, incidents, reorgs). DeliveryCompass syncs release and tag dates from tracked repositories; you manage custom types and manual markers on the Chart milestones page.
Markers do not change KPI numbers — they annotate the time axis on selected charts. See Team analytics for the chart grid and limitations for what milestones are not (for example, CI/CD deployment frequency).
What appears on charts?
| Source | Type | How it syncs | Example label |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub release | Release (system) | Automatic after daily sync | v2.0.0 or release title |
| Git tag | Tag (system) | Automatic — semver tags v*.*.* only | v1.4.2 |
| Manual marker | Your custom type | You add on Chart milestones page | Platform launch |
Synced releases and tags are read-only in the app. Create custom types (name + color) for launches, incidents, and other org events.
Which charts show milestones?
Time-series charts with a date axis include milestone markers when events fall in the selected range:
- Merge throughput trend
- Lead time trend
- Contributor merge trends
- Review activity trend
- Performance over time (Overview)
- Merged lines of code (Overview)
Snapshot charts (team scores, horizontal bar rankings, donuts) have no time axis and do not show milestones.
How do I manage milestones?
Open Chart milestones at /app/dashboard/milestones:
- Sidebar: under Team analytics → Chart milestones
- Toolbar: Milestones link on Overview or Team analytics (preserves your time range)
The page uses the same range picker as analytics so lists match what charts display. Sections include synced GitHub events (paginated), milestone types (system + custom), and manual milestones (paginated). Add a custom type, then add manual markers with a label and date.
How do I read markers on a chart?
- Each event is a dashed vertical line colored by milestone type.
- The milestone label appears in a small pill at the top of the line (for example, release name or your manual event title).
- Hover a date bucket on the chart to see milestone names and dates in the tooltip.
- A milestone legend below the series legend lists types — click to hide or show markers of that type (at least one type stays visible when several exist).
What milestones are not
Chart milestones are not deployment frequency from your CI/CD pipeline. They reflect GitHub release/tag publish dates and dates you enter manually — useful for staff-meeting context, not production DORA deployment metrics. See GitHub integration limitations and DORA from GitHub.
Common questions
Why don’t I see GitHub release markers on my charts?
Releases and tags appear after daily sync imports them from tracked repositories. Check that your PAT is valid, repos are mapped and not excluded, and the selected time range includes the release date. Open Chart milestones to confirm synced events exist for that range. See troubleshooting: missing milestones.
Can I mark a product launch without a GitHub release?
Yes. Create a custom milestone type (for example, “Launch”), then add a manual milestone with a label and date. It appears on the same charts as synced releases.
Do milestones change merge throughput or lead time KPIs?
No. Milestones are visual annotations on trend charts only. Org and team KPIs are computed from pull request metadata independently.
Can I correlate launches with PR throughput dips?
Yes — visually. Add manual markers or rely on synced releases, then compare marker dates to merge and lead-time trends on Team analytics. Use the same date range on Overview and analytics for consistent context.