Unlocking Deeper Insights: Tracking GitHub Project Custom Fields for Better Software Engineering OKRs

In the fast-paced world of software development, clarity and visibility are paramount. Engineering teams, product managers, and CTOs rely heavily on tools like GitHub Issues and Projects to orchestrate their work. Custom fields, in particular, offer invaluable flexibility, allowing teams to tailor project boards to their unique workflows, tracking everything from priority levels to specific technical requirements.

However, a subtle yet significant gap often emerges: the native GitHub Issue timeline, while excellent at tracking core changes, doesn't automatically log updates to these crucial custom fields. This oversight can create a blind spot, hindering comprehensive project oversight and impacting the accuracy of your software developer statistics.

The Unseen Changes: Why GitHub's Native Timeline Falls Short for Custom Fields

A recent discussion on the GitHub Community forum, initiated by aburnettels, brought this challenge into sharp focus. The core observation was simple: when a standard field like a Label, Type, or Assignee changes, or when an issue is linked to a project, GitHub’s timeline dutifully records the event. You see clear entries like "user added Bug on Nov 19, 2025," providing an immediate audit trail of critical issue modifications.

Yet, this same granular visibility is conspicuously absent for changes made within the ProjectsSections-module__FieldList—the very custom fields that often define a project’s unique context. Imagine a custom field tracking "Risk Level" or "Technical Debt Category" changing from "Low" to "High." Without a native timeline entry, this vital shift in an issue's status goes unrecorded in its direct history. For delivery managers and technical leaders, this isn't just an inconvenience; it's a transparency gap that can obscure the true progression of work and complicate efforts to track software engineering OKRs effectively.

This discrepancy stems from how GitHub's backend modules handle these fields. As rafaelxo pointed out, "Custom Fields live at the Project level and not the Issue level, they are handled by different modules in the backend." This architectural separation means that out-of-the-box, these project-level changes don't automatically cascade into the issue-level timeline.

Bridging the Gap: Automation for Enhanced Transparency and Data Integrity

The good news is that the GitHub community has identified robust workarounds. These solutions leverage GitHub's powerful automation capabilities, ensuring your custom field changes are no longer invisible. Implementing these methods not only solves the immediate problem but also enriches your data, providing a more complete picture for analyzing software developer statistics and measuring team performance against software engineering OKRs.

Option 1: Leverage GitHub Actions for Proactive Timeline Updates

GitHub Actions are a game-changer for automating development workflows. By configuring a workflow to trigger on specific project-related events, you can programmatically add comments or create custom timeline events directly on linked issues. This effectively mimics the native timeline behavior for any custom field change, offering a clear, auditable log.

• Trigger Events: Set up your workflow to listen for events such as project_column_id or project_item changes, or even more specifically, project_field_change events.
• Action: The Action can use the GitHub API to "Add Comment" or "Create Timeline Event" on the associated issue. The comment can detail who made the change, what field was updated, the old value, the new value, and the timestamp.
• Example: When the "Priority" custom field on a project item changes from "Medium" to "High," a GitHub Action could automatically post a comment on the linked issue: "@User changed Priority from Medium to High on [Date]."

This approach transforms a manual oversight into an automated, transparent record, crucial for maintaining accountability and providing context during retrospectives or status updates.

Option 2: Webhooks and the GitHub API for Programmatic Control

For teams requiring more granular control or integrating with external systems, Webhooks combined with the GitHub API offer a powerful alternative. This method allows you to build custom integrations that react to project-level changes and update issues accordingly.

• Listen for Events: Configure a webhook to listen for projects_v2_item edited events. These events carry payloads that include details about what was changed within a project item, including custom fields.
• Programmatic Update: Upon receiving a webhook payload, your custom script or application can use the GitHub API to update the linked issue. This could involve adding a comment, modifying the issue description, or creating a custom timeline event.
• Flexibility: This option provides maximum flexibility, allowing you to format the update exactly as needed, or even push this data into an external data warehouse for deeper analysis of software developer statistics and trends.

While requiring a bit more setup, the Webhooks and API approach is ideal for complex scenarios or when integrating GitHub data with other business intelligence tools.

The Strategic Advantage: Beyond Just Tracking

Implementing these automation strategies unlocks a wealth of benefits for your entire organization:

• Enhanced Accountability: Every significant change to an issue, native or custom, is attributed and timestamped, fostering greater team accountability.
• Richer Data for Decision-Making: A complete issue history provides invaluable data for retrospectives and performance reviews. You gain deeper insights into bottlenecks, re-prioritization patterns, and task management. This granular data fuels platforms like devActivity, which thrive on comprehensive developer activity metrics.
• Accurate Software Engineering OKR Measurement: With a full audit trail, you can more accurately measure progress against your objectives and key results. Understanding how custom fields (e.g., "Blocked Reason," "Customer Impact") evolve over time is crucial for assessing project health and team efficiency.
• Improved Project Delivery: Clearer visibility means project managers and delivery leads can identify and address issues faster, streamline workflows, and make more informed decisions, ultimately leading to smoother project execution.
• Better Software Developer Statistics: By capturing all field changes, you generate more precise statistics on how tasks are managed, who is involved in critical decisions, and the overall velocity of your development process. This data is vital for continuous improvement and strategic planning.

Conclusion: Embrace Automation for Unparalleled Transparency

The absence of native timeline tracking for GitHub Project custom fields is a challenge, but one readily overcome with intelligent automation. Whether you opt for GitHub Actions or the programmatic flexibility of Webhooks and the GitHub API, the result is the same: a more transparent, accountable, and data-rich development process.

For engineering managers, product leaders, and CTOs, this enhanced visibility isn't just about ticking boxes; it's about empowering your teams with better context, fostering a culture of clarity, and ultimately driving more successful outcomes. Don't let valuable project insights remain hidden—automate your way to a complete issue history and unlock the full potential of your GitHub Projects.

What methods are you using to track custom field changes? Share your insights in the comments below!