diff --git a/packages/kbn-pm/dist/index.js b/packages/kbn-pm/dist/index.js
index 5b53bf60f91c..28cf36dedba3 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-pm/dist/index.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-pm/dist/index.js
@@ -57025,7 +57025,7 @@ async function getChangesForProjects(projects, kbn, log) {
   log.verbose('getting changed files');
   const {
     stdout
-  } = await execa__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_3___default()('git', ['ls-files', '-dmt', '--', ...Array.from(projects.values()).filter(p => kbn.isPartOfRepo(p)).map(p => p.path)], {
+  } = await execa__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_3___default()('git', ['ls-files', '-dmto', '--exclude-standard', '--', ...Array.from(projects.values()).filter(p => kbn.isPartOfRepo(p)).map(p => p.path)], {
     cwd: kbn.getAbsolute()
   });
   const output = stdout.trim();
@@ -57052,10 +57052,13 @@ async function getChangesForProjects(projects, kbn, log) {
           unassignedChanges.set(path, 'deleted');
           break;
 
+        case '?':
+          unassignedChanges.set(path, 'untracked');
+          break;
+
         case 'H':
         case 'S':
         case 'K':
-        case '?':
         default:
           log.warning(`unexpected modification status "${tag}" for ${path}, please report this!`);
           unassignedChanges.set(path, 'invalid');
diff --git a/packages/kbn-pm/src/utils/project_checksums.ts b/packages/kbn-pm/src/utils/project_checksums.ts
index 572f2adb19bd..7d939e715d41 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-pm/src/utils/project_checksums.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-pm/src/utils/project_checksums.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ import { Kibana } from '../utils/kibana';
 
 export type ChecksumMap = Map<string, string | undefined>;
 /** map of [repo relative path to changed file, type of change] */
-type Changes = Map<string, 'modified' | 'deleted' | 'invalid'>;
+type Changes = Map<string, 'modified' | 'deleted' | 'invalid' | 'untracked'>;
 
 const statAsync = promisify(Fs.stat);
 const projectBySpecificitySorter = (a: Project, b: Project) => b.path.length - a.path.length;
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ async function getChangesForProjects(projects: ProjectMap, kbn: Kibana, log: Too
     'git',
     [
       'ls-files',
-      '-dmt',
+      '-dmto',
+      '--exclude-standard',
       '--',
       ...Array.from(projects.values())
         .filter(p => kbn.isPartOfRepo(p))
@@ -78,10 +79,13 @@ async function getChangesForProjects(projects: ProjectMap, kbn: Kibana, log: Too
           unassignedChanges.set(path, 'deleted');
           break;
 
+        case '?':
+          unassignedChanges.set(path, 'untracked');
+          break;
+
         case 'H':
         case 'S':
         case 'K':
-        case '?':
         default:
           log.warning(`unexpected modification status "${tag}" for ${path}, please report this!`);
           unassignedChanges.set(path, 'invalid');