Kaiten: Backlog Analytics

Kaiten: Backlog Analytics

Aggregate and analyze data from a Kaiten board to provide backlog health metrics.

Prerequisites

• KAITEN_HOST and KAITEN_TOKEN must be set
• Board ID is required (passed as $ARGUMENTS)

If no board ID is provided, ask the user or suggest running kaiten-boards first.

Steps

1. Fetch board structure

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $KAITEN_TOKEN" \
  "https://$KAITEN_HOST/api/latest/board/$ARGUMENTS/columns"

2. Fetch all cards on the board

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $KAITEN_TOKEN" \
  "https://$KAITEN_HOST/api/latest/cards?board_id=$ARGUMENTS&limit=200&condition=1"

Paginate if needed to get all active cards.

3. Analyze and aggregate

Calculate the following metrics:

Distribution by column:

• Count cards in each column
• Compare against WIP limits
• Flag columns exceeding WIP limits

Blockers:

• Count blocked cards
• List top blockers with reasons

Workload by member:

• Count cards assigned to each member
• Identify overloaded members (>10 cards)
• Identify unassigned cards

Aging:

• Cards without updates for >7 days
• Cards without updates for >30 days
• Oldest cards in "In Progress" equivalent columns

Due dates:

• Overdue cards (due date in the past)
• Cards due this week
• Cards without due dates

4. Present results

Backlog Analytics: "Board Name"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Total active cards: N

Distribution by column:
| Column | Cards | WIP Limit | Status |
|--------|-------|-----------|--------|
| To Do | 15 | - | OK |
| In Progress | 8 | 5 | OVER LIMIT |
| Review | 3 | 4 | OK |
| Done | 12 | - | OK |

Blockers (N):
- Card #123: "Title" — reason
- Card #456: "Title" — reason

Workload:
| Member | Cards | Status |
|--------|-------|--------|
| User1 | 12 | Overloaded |
| User2 | 5 | OK |
| Unassigned | 3 | Needs attention |

Aging alerts:
- N cards stale >7 days
- N cards stale >30 days
- Oldest in-progress: Card #ID (X days)

Due dates:
- N overdue
- N due this week
- N without due date

Provide actionable recommendations based on the analysis.