A guide to DORA metrics
- Introduction to DORA metrics: This article provides a guide to DORA metrics, which are performance indicators used to measure the effectiveness of DevOps practices in software development teams.
- What is DORA and what are its findings? DORA is the DevOps Research Associates team that analyzes data from surveys to understand trends in high-performing organizations. They found that high-performing teams have faster deployment rates, quicker recovery from incidents, and spend less time on security issues.
- The 4 DORA metrics and how to calculate them: The four DORA metrics are deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and time to restore service. The article explains how to calculate each metric using specific data and formulas.
- Deployment frequency: This metric measures how often an organization releases software to customers. It is calculated by dividing the total number of deployments by the total number of days in a specified period.
- Lead time for changes: This metric measures the elapsed time from the initial commit on a feature to its release to customers. It is influenced by factors such as organizational culture, team structure, and technical practices. The article provides an example of how to calculate lead time for changes.
- Change failure rate: This metric measures the frequency of deployments that experience issues before reaching customers. It is calculated by comparing the number of production deployments with the number of remediation-only deployments and incidents. The article explains the three levels of organizational performance for this metric.
- Time to restore service: This metric measures how long it takes to recover from customer-impacting incidents. It is calculated by dividing the total incident age by the number of incidents. The article emphasizes the importance of defining what incidents are included in the analysis.
- Benefits of using DORA metrics: The article highlights the benefits of implementing DORA metrics, such as improved performance, faster feedback from customers, and reduced security issues.
- Things to keep in mind when using DORA metrics: The article mentions that DORA metrics should be used as a guide, not as rigid rules. It is important to customize the metrics based on the specific needs and goals of the organization.