This catch-up covers 6.56.1, 6.57.0 and 6.57.2. The first group of changes below can move numbers you already watch, so we list those first. The rest is about what a view shows when there is nothing to show, and about every view looking and behaving the same way. Azure DevOps updates the extension automatically, so there is nothing to install.
Averages skip sprints where nothing was committed (6.56.1)
Commitment reliability and carryover averages used to count a sprint with nothing committed as 0%, which pulled the average down. They now leave those sprints out. This applies to the Sprint Velocity average, the reliability figures on Delivery Signals and Flow Metrics, and the Team Health score. Only a team with such a sprint in its window sees a difference, and their averages go up to reflect the sprints that did have a commitment. Numbers for each sprint, throughput and scope churn are unchanged.
Flow efficiency agrees across views (6.57.2)
Flow Metrics and Delivery Signals used to add the days an item spent in a state that is not in your Workflow Mapping to the step before it, usually In Progress, which could make flow efficiency read 100% while the Flow Efficiency view showed a lower figure for the same work. They now treat such a state the way the Flow Efficiency view and the Dashboard already did. A state whose name sounds like active work, such as “Code Review”, counts as active. Any other unmapped state, and a done state an item passed through before it was reopened, counts as waiting. If your flow efficiency read 100%, it may now be lower and closer to how work really flows. Mapping those states in Configuration, Workflow Mapping gives the most accurate result. The stage breakdown is unchanged.
Empty and ended sprints say so (6.56.1, 6.57.0, 6.57.2)
A sprint with no items used to show rows of zeros and red or green verdicts. It now shows a calm message instead.
- The Dashboard’s sprint card says the sprint has no items yet. Live Stats shows “No items” instead of a verdict, and Cumulative Flow shows “No items in this window”.
- A sprint whose end date has passed shows “ended” and the date in its title, and sprint pickers on Retro Snapshot, Cumulative Flow and Audit Trail no longer call it “active”. Sprint Capacity labels an ended sprint “ended” instead of marking it current.
- Where nothing was committed to a sprint, Sprint Velocity, Delivery Signals, Flow Metrics and Retro Snapshot show a dash instead of a red 0%, and Delivery Signals leaves the commitment reliability and carryover cards out when no sprint in the window had a commitment.
- Dashboard tiles show “No data” in grey, not red, when a team has no sprints yet. This covers Cycle Time, Throughput, Sprint Forecast, Team Health and DORA. At its smallest size the Team Health tile no longer shows a scrollbar; it keeps the score, grade and summary, and the WIP note stays on the score’s tooltip.
One set of blues for forecast confidence (6.56.1)
Monte Carlo now shows its four confidence levels (95%, 85%, 70% and 50%) in one set of blue shades, darker for more certain. This applies on the “How many?” and “When will it finish?” tabs and on the Dashboard’s “How many?” Forecast, and the Sprint Forecast dashboard tile uses blue instead of purple. Before, the same level could be green on one tab and red on the other. When all four levels land on the same date, Monte Carlo now shows one card instead of four.
Snapshot buttons download their picture (6.56.1)
The Snapshot buttons on Cycle Time and Monte Carlo did nothing inside Azure DevOps. They now download the chart as a picture.
Lighter dashboard tiles (6.56.1)
Dashboard tiles now download about a third less before they appear, and tiles shown in German, Spanish, French, Italian or Portuguese fetch far less text. The Cycle Time tile shows the latest sprint with finished work and names it, instead of 0.0 days for a sprint with nothing finished. The Team Health and Sprint Forecast tiles show all their text in your language, and the tile settings panel is readable in dark mode.
Every view shares one header, filter strip and empty state (6.57.0)
Before, each view arranged its title, filters and empty message in its own way. Every view now starts with the same header: the title, a one-line description, and a single help “?” where one exists. Filters sit in one strip directly under it, with the actions (Run, Refresh, Snapshot, Export) on the right. When a view has nothing to show, it says so in one line with one action. Sprint Capacity, Next Sprint Planning, AI Metrics and the AI Improvement panel, which had no title, now have one.
- Small text is larger. Labels, captions and pills that were 9 to 11px are now at least 12px, buttons and pills are at least 24px tall, and page titles, section headings and card labels follow one scale. Chart axis ticks stay as they were.
- The hub’s first render downloads about 120 KB less, because the release notes text now loads only when you open What’s New or Help. While a view loads for the first time you see an outline of the page instead of “Loading…”, and hovering a menu item starts loading that view early.
- Multi-Team Aging has one scope picker (All, Active, Selected) with the other options under “Advanced”, and a “?” that explains the Risk score. Your saved scope is unchanged.
- Chart labels no longer overlap. The Cycle Time date axis thins out when crowded, close percentile labels are spread apart, Monte Carlo shows “85% · 70%” as one label when two levels share a bucket, and Exec Report sparklines show their first and last values.
- Colours mean one thing. A suspicious flow efficiency is amber with a caution pill, never green; Process Behavior shows one caution instead of two; Feature Analytics cards have no decorative coloured borders.
- On the AI Metrics and AI Improvement views, sample cards carry a SAMPLE stamp, use placeholder names such as “Sample user A”, and header counts read “Sample: 4 alerts”.
- On a window narrower than about 1000px the sidebar collapses by itself and comes back when the window is wider. Your own collapse choice is kept as it was.
- Customize shows “Saved ✓” after a change. The note about which work item types are counted is a quiet one-line footnote, and the Dashboard’s WIP card is a normal-sized card.
- In Configuration each form sits in its own card with its Save button, and leaving a tab with unsaved edits asks first. Workflow Mapping shows one project at a time, expanded where states are unmapped, with one “How mapping works” note.
Accessibility and wording (6.56.1, 6.57.0)
Confirmation dialogs for actions you cannot undo now start on Cancel. Keyboard focus is easier to see, with a clearer 2px ring. Settings fields in Configuration, the Live Stats scope pickers and the Access Control role picker have names for screen readers. In dark mode, checkboxes and scroll bars match the theme, and the Dashboard no longer scrolls sideways. Each view has one top-level heading with no skipped levels. Buttons no longer start with an emoji, and “Ask Henry ↗” shows that it opens our website. Customize explains the difference between “Restore classic layout” and “Reset to default”, and Sprint Velocity’s bar column is labelled “Relative throughput”. The Configuration notice about detected work item types now appears in your language.
Dashboard tile errors carry more detail for us (6.57.2)
When a dashboard tile cannot load for a reason we cannot identify, the error report now includes the technical error type and the HTTP status code, so we can fix it faster. It never includes the error message, names, or any of your work-item data. Work-item content stays in your Azure DevOps tenant.
What you need to do
Nothing. The What’s New pop-up opened once for 6.56.1 and again for 6.57.0 and 6.57.2 because numbers and layouts moved. If a figure still looks wrong after the update, use Ask Henry in the top bar and a real person replies within one business day.
Related: Service status