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DevOps Research and Assessment performance indicators for software delivery

Core Idea: DORA metrics measure software delivery performance at the system level rather than individual contributions, focusing on key indicators that correlate with organizational performance.

Key Elements

• DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) metrics emerged from research by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim

• Focus on four key metrics that indicate software delivery performance:

  1. Deployment Frequency - How often an organization successfully releases to production
  2. Lead Time for Changes - The time it takes from code commit to code running in production
  3. Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) - How long it takes to restore service after a failure
  4. Change Failure Rate - Percentage of changes that result in degraded service or require remediation

• System-level focus:

  • Measures "how the system of work works" rather than individual contributions
  • Evaluates the health of the overall delivery pipeline
  • Considers the flow of technical change into production

Connection to Organizational Performance

• Research shows these metrics correlate with organizational performance
• Allows comparison of performance against industry benchmarks
• Provides concrete improvement targets for delivery optimization

Relationship to Culture

• Correlates with Westrum organizational culture indicators
• High-performing teams typically have generative cultures with:
  • High trust and cooperation
  • Shared responsibilities
  • Bridging between teams
  • Failure leading to inquiry rather than blame

Additional Connections

• Broader Context: DevOps Principles (foundation for DORA metrics)
• Applications: Software Delivery Optimization (practical improvements)
• See Also: Team Productivity vs Individual Metrics (contrasting measurement approaches)

References

1. North, Dan. "The Worst Programmer I Know" (blog article)
2. Forsgren, N., Humble, J., & Kim, G. "Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps"

#devops #metrics #software-delivery #performance-measurement #dora

Connections:

Sources:

• From: The Worst Programmer I Know