Your team's brain is overloaded. Here's the proof.
Cognitive overload is the silent killer of engineering teams. Context switching, fragmented attention, and invisible work create patterns that traditional metrics miss. Operion detects these patterns before they become crises.
Built by Dr. Jen Anderson, behavioral neuroscientist with 10 years of research in visual perception and signal detection, and 10+ years leading engineering teams as fractional CTO and Senior Director of Engineering.
Join Design Partner ProgramThe Problem
Traditional metrics show WHAT teams do:
- •Velocity
- •Throughput
- •Cycle time
- •Commits
- •PRs
- •Deploys
- •Tickets closed
- •Story points
Operion shows WHY teams struggle:
- ✓Burnout patterns before people quit
- ✓Cognitive overload from context switching
- ✓Invisible work that does not show up in Jira
- ✓Collaboration breakdowns in real-time
- ✓Risk signals from behavioral drift
The Neuroscience Gap
Traditional metrics measure outputs. Behavioral signals measure what's actually happening to your team.
Commits and PRs
What You Measure:
Velocity looks stable
What's Actually Happening
Behavioral Signal:
Late-night commits increasing 200%
Example:
Team shipping same volume but working at 11 PM instead of 9 AM
Meeting attendance
What You Measure:
All meetings happening
What's Actually Happening
Behavioral Signal:
Communication density dropping 35%
Example:
People attending meetings but not engaging in Slack or async discussions
Ticket throughput
What You Measure:
Tickets closing on schedule
What's Actually Happening
Behavioral Signal:
Work concentration increasing
Example:
60% of critical path flowing through 2 people, creating bottleneck risk
Sprint planning
What You Measure:
Scope committed and delivered
What's Actually Happening
Behavioral Signal:
Meeting fragmentation spiking
Example:
Calendar fragmented into 15-minute slots, no focus time for deep work
The gap between what you measure and what's actually happening is where burnout, attrition, and performance problems hide. Operion closes that gap.
The Solution
Makes invisible work visible
Operion uses signal detection theory and psychophysical modeling—methods from behavioral neuroscience—to detect patterns humans cannot see.
Methodology
- •Signal Detection Theory: Statistical methods to identify meaningful patterns in behavioral data
- •Psychophysical Modeling: Behavioral neuroscience approach to measuring perception and response to stimuli
- •Behavioral Pattern Detection: How these methods apply to detecting team behavioral patterns
What You Get
- ✓Statistical Methods: We identify meaningful deviations using statistical analysis: >2 standard deviations from baseline indicates significant behavioral shift.
- ✓Leading Indicators: Operion detects leading indicators that predict problems 2-4 weeks ahead, giving you time to intervene before crises occur.
Built on Research
Founder Background
Dr. Jen Anderson spent 10 years in behavioral neuroscience research, with a PhD dissertation on visual perception and signal detection. She then spent 10+ years leading engineering teams as CTO and Senior Director of Engineering, managing teams up to 30+ engineers.
Research Connection
The same principles that govern how brains detect visual patterns apply to how teams develop behavioral patterns. Signal detection theory, psychophysical modeling, and baseline deviation analysis translate directly from perception research to team behavioral analysis.
Methodology
- •Signal Detection Theory: Statistical foundation for identifying meaningful patterns
- •Psychophysical Modeling: Behavioral measurement and response analysis
- •Time-series Analysis: Tracking patterns over time
- •Baseline Establishment: Understanding what normal looks like for your team
- •Deviation Detection: Identifying meaningful shifts from baseline
- •Predictive Modeling: Forecasting problems before they manifest
Operion is built on research-backed methodology, not unverified metrics. We avoid making performance claims without research backing. We're transparent about limitations and ongoing research.
How It Works
Connect your tools
15 minutes to integrate GitHub, Jira, Slack, and Calendar
Operion analyzes patterns
Automatic behavioral analysis using neuroscience methods
Get dashboard + insights + alerts
Daily updates with actionable team health metrics
Make better decisions about your team
Immediately act on data-driven insights
Design Partner Program
Free for 5 design partner teams
Program Benefits
- ✓Full platform access through Q2 2026
- ✓Weekly feedback calls with Dr. Jen Anderson
- ✓Custom analysis for your specific org challenges
- ✓Feature influence—your needs shape the roadmap
- ✓Founding customer pricing lock when we launch (50% off standard rate)
- ✓Case study collaboration (if you want it)
What We're Looking For
- • Team size: 15-100 engineers
- • Tools: GitHub/GitLab, Jira/Linear, Slack/Teams, Calendar
- • Commitment: Leadership engagement: You're willing to act on insights based on collected data.
Ready to see what is really happening?
Join the design partner program and help shape the future of team health analytics.
Apply for Design Partner Program