Inspiration

In Formula 1, the "Pit Wall" is the brain of the operation. It’s where data meets decision-making—where Race Engineers monitor telemetry, tire degradation, and gaps to make split-second strategy calls.

We realized that modern software teams need their own Pit Wall. Scrum Masters and Engineering Managers often struggle to see the "live race status" of a sprint buried inside list views and backlogs. We wanted to build a centralized Command Center that turns static Jira data into live "telemetry," allowing teams to react to blockers (Yellow Flags) and pivot strategy (Pit Stops) with the precision of the Williams Racing crew.

What it does

Pit Wall Commander is a native Jira Dashboard Gadget (or Project Page) built on Forge that gives teams a real-time visualization of their sprint health.

Live Telemetry Dashboard: Visualizes sprint velocity and "burn" rates like tire degradation graphs, showing if the team is on track to finish the "race" (Sprint) on time.

"Yellow Flag" Blocker Alerts: Instantly highlights stalled tickets or sudden scope creep (Incidents) that endanger the sprint goal, allowing the "Race Engineer" (Manager) to intervene immediately.

Pit Stop Strategy: A scenario planning module that lets you simulate "What if?" scenarios—e.g., "If we pull this feature (box this lap), do we make the release deadline?"

Driver Radio: Integrates [Confluence/Slack/Comments] to show the latest team communications in a feed alongside the data.

How we built it

We built Pit Wall Commander strictly using the Atlassian Forge platform to ensure security and seamless integration.

Frontend: We used Forge Custom UI with React and [e.g., Recharts/D3.js] to build the high-fidelity telemetry graphs. This allowed us to create a "Dark Mode" racing aesthetic that feels like a real F1 monitor.

Data Fetching: We utilized the Jira REST API (via requestJira) to fetch real-time issue data, sprint status, and velocity metrics.

Backend & Storage: We used the Forge Storage API to save team configurations (e.g., "Target Velocity" or "Race Distance") without needing an external database.

AI Integration (Optional): We experimented with [Atlassian Intelligence / Rovo] to summarize ticket comments into "Race Engineer Radio Messages."

Challenges we ran into

Learning about forge, finding difficulties in installing as the version mismatches, uikit1 and 2, manifest file incompatibilities etc.

The Learning Curve: This was our first time using [specific Forge API, e.g., the UI Kit 2 or Storage API], so understanding the invocation limits required some trial and error.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We could achieve the intergration within less time (from the day we started)

What we learned

We gained a deep understanding of the Atlassian Forge architecture, specifically how Custom UI bridges communicate with the backend.

We learned that "Gamification" (treating work like a race) genuinely improves team engagement and visibility.

We discovered how critical Cycle Time is—it's effectively the "Lap Time" of software development!

What's next for Pit Wall Commander Rovo Integration: We plan to add an AI "Race Engineer" using Atlassian Rovo to voice-prompt the user: "Box box, ticket DEV-123 is blocked."

Multi-Team Support: A "Constructor's Championship" view to compare velocity and health across multiple teams in an organization.

Marketplace Launch: We believe this solves a real need for visualization and plan to polish it for a full release on the Atlassian Marketplace.