# How MongoDB Cut PR Size by ~50% and Improved PR Cycle Time with Optimal AI

Accelerate delivery, reduce costly rework, and improve engineering predictability with instant, full-context reviews and real-time insights across your entire eng org.

## Reduction in PR Size

~50%  
Smaller, reviewable changes → faster approvals + fewer merge conflicts.

## Faster PR Cycle Time

~30%  
Clear visibility into root causes → quicker unblocking.

## Centralized Engineering Visibility

100%  
From Jira to GitHub → one place for metrics teams trust.

"Optimal AI cut our PR review time nearly in half. Our team finally has visibility into what's slowing us down"

### The Problem

## Ad-hoc scripts, spreadsheet gymnastics, and limited adoption

Before Insights, visibility depended on manual effort across teams:

- Custom scripts maintained by different departments to extract data
- CSV/Excel workflows to transform and aggregate metrics
- Hand-built dashboards that required constant updates

"We were using scripts folks had written, dumping data into Excel, then producing higher-level dashboards… it was never easy to use."

### The Solution

## A single source of truth with Investments, Jira integration, and smooth UX

MongoDB adopted Optimal AI Insights to replace scripts and spreadsheets with a single, navigable system for engineering metrics.

- **Unified dashboards**: One place to see all metrics, with fast filters by team, person, and activity.
- **Investments view**: Clear allocation across technical debt, bug fixes, discovery, feature development, and more—by week, sprint, or quarter.
- **Jira integration**: Real-time view of effort by epics/initiatives, where work got blocked, and why—fueling root-cause discussions.
- **Adoption-ready UX**: Smooth switching between views and filters → better usage from engineers to directors and above—no code, no scripts.

### The Results

## PRs ~50% smaller, faster cycle time, and organization-wide adoption

The move to Insights produced noticeable, measurable improvements:

- PR size reduced by nearly 50%.
- Improved PR cycle time, driven by clarity on where/why reviews were slow.
- Higher PR quality, supported by focused conversations on large PRs.
- Improved deployment frequency, enabled by smaller, easier-to-review changes.
- Widespread adoption across levels (engineers → senior engineers → directors+).

### The Impact in Numbers

## Before and after metrics for MongoDB's Internal Tools team using Optimal AI Insights

| Metric                          | Before Insights                                   | After Insights                                  | Improvement             |
|---------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|------------------------|
| PR Size                         | Large, inconsistent, hard to review               | Right-sized, easier to review                    | ~50% reduction         |
| PR Cycle Time                   | Slow on large PRs; unclear drivers                | Root-cause visibility; faster reviews             | Improved cycle time    |
| Engineering Metrics Access       | Custom scripts + CSV/Excel + manual dashboards   | Single system; fast filters by team/person/activity | One source of truth    |
| Investment Visibility            | Fragmented view of effort                         | Investments by tech debt, bugs, discovery, features | Clear focus areas      |
| Jira Integration                | Manual rollups; limited blockage insight          | Effort by epic/initiative; blocked-work detection  | Fewer surprises        |
| Adoption & UX                   | Low adoption; hard to switch views                | Engineers → Directors use shared dashboards       | Org-wide adoption      |
| Deployment Frequency            | Held back by large PRs                           | Smaller PRs enable faster releases                  | More frequent deploys  |

## Cut cycle time by 50% and get visibility into engineering productivity

Start reviewing PRs faster, catching issues earlier, and shipping with confidence.