You have probably heard that “DevOps accelerates the software development process” quite often, and that CI/CD involves “continuous”. But just how fast is fast? Are you delivering software in weeks or months, or could you be delivering in hours? You might not need to release your software in a matter of hours, but learning how to do it safely and efficiently? Now that sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
Organizations embracing DevOps often use various metrics to measure the success of their CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, testing strategies, and overall development practices. The most popular ones are DORA metrics, which focus on evaluating software team performance through 4 key metrics (2021 DORA report). These metrics are divided into 2 main categories: throughput and stability, providing a comprehensive view of both the speed and reliability of software delivery.
Throughput
Throughput measures the velocity of changes that are being made. DORA assesses throughput using the following metrics:
Stability
Stability measures the quality of the changes delivered and the team’s ability to repair failures. DORA assesses throughput using the following metrics:
As part of their evaluation, the DORA team also categorized software development teams into 4 performance tiers: low, medium, high, and elite. This ranking system offers a clear perspective on each team’s overall effectiveness and success .
| Metric | Elite | High | Medium | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deployment frequency | multiple deploys per day | Between once per week and once per month | Between once per month and once every 6 months | Fewer than once per six months |
| Change lead time | Less than one hour | Between one day and one week | Between one month and six months | More than six months |
| Failed deployment recovery time | Less than one hour | Less than one day | Between one day and one week | More than six months |
| Change fail percentage | 0%-15% | 16%-30% | 16%-30% | 16%-30% |
To achieve high or even elite performance in software delivery, it is crucial to adopt tool-agnostic methodologies and, more importantly, ensure that your team is equipped with the knowledge and skills to implement them effectively.