Every engineering organization has key person dependencies. The question isn't whether they exist. It's whether you've identified them and planned for the inevitable.
ContributorIQ maps knowledge concentration across your entire codebase, so when a critical engineer resigns (or before they do), you know exactly:
The bus factor measures how many contributors would need to leave before a project stalls. ContributorIQ calculates this for every repository using Degree of Authorship analysis.
A bus factor of 1 means a single departure will cause serious problems. Review your repositories sorted by bus factor to prioritize risk mitigation before anyone leaves.
The knowledge distribution matrix shows expertise levels across repositories and contributors. Look for:
Orphaned files have no active contributor with meaningful ownership. They represent code that nobody currently understands well. Track orphaned file counts over time, because increasing orphans indicate knowledge loss from previous departures that was never recovered.
When a contributor's activity pattern shifts from "Peak" to "Winding Down," it often precedes resignation. ContributorIQ detects this pattern automatically based on:
This isn't surveillance. It's pattern recognition that gives you time to have retention conversations or begin knowledge transfer.
The moment a critical engineer gives notice, run this workflow:
Not all knowledge is equally critical. Prioritize transfer based on:
Track these metrics quarterly to measure whether your organization is becoming more or less resilient:
Across all repositories
Critical risk indicator
And trend over time
Knowledge concentration measure
Composite resilience metric (0-100)
Improvement in these metrics means you're building a more resilient engineering organization, one that can absorb departures without crisis.
Performance issues and terminations are also departure events. When planning to exit an underperforming engineer:
Map key person dependencies before the next resignation.
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