DORA Metrics
Four key performance indicators that measure software delivery performance and DevOps effectiveness.
Definition
DORA Metrics (DevOps Research and Assessment) are four key measurements that predict software delivery performance and organizational success. Developed through years of research by Google's DORA team, these metrics help engineering leaders understand how effectively their teams deliver software and identify areas for improvement.
The Four Key Metrics
Deployment Frequency
How often code is deployed to production
Lead Time for Changes
Time from commit to production
Change Failure Rate
Percentage of deployments causing failures
Mean Time to Recovery
Time to restore service after incident
Performance Benchmarks
| Metric | Elite | High | Medium | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deployment Frequency | Multiple times per day | Weekly to monthly | Monthly to every 6 months | Less than once per 6 months |
| Lead Time for Changes | Less than 1 day | 1 day to 1 week | 1 week to 1 month | More than 1 month |
| Change Failure Rate | 0-15% | 16-30% | 31-45% | 46-100% |
| Mean Time to Recovery | Less than 1 hour | Less than 1 day | 1 day to 1 week | More than 1 week |
Why DORA Metrics Matter
Research from Google's DORA team (published in the book "Accelerate") found that elite performers on these metrics are:
- 2x more likely to meet or exceed organizational performance goals
- 50% more likely to exceed goals on quality and security
- Better at reducing burnout and improving developer satisfaction
- More successful at scaling development as the organization grows
Velocity vs. Stability
The four metrics balance two competing concerns:
Velocity Metrics
- • Deployment Frequency
- • Lead Time for Changes
How fast can you ship?
Stability Metrics
- • Change Failure Rate
- • Mean Time to Recovery
How reliably can you ship?
How to Improve DORA Metrics
- Automate deployments: CI/CD pipelines reduce lead time and increase deployment frequency
- Smaller batch sizes: Smaller, more frequent releases reduce change failure rate
- Feature flags: Decouple deployment from release to ship faster with less risk
- Observability: Better monitoring reduces mean time to recovery
- Blameless postmortems: Learn from failures without fear to prevent future incidents
Frequently Asked Questions
What are DORA Metrics?
DORA Metrics are four key performance indicators developed by the DevOps Research and Assessment team: Deployment Frequency, Lead Time for Changes, Change Failure Rate, and Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR). They measure how effectively teams deliver software.
What is Deployment Frequency?
Deployment Frequency measures how often your team successfully releases code to production. Elite teams deploy multiple times per day, while low performers may deploy monthly or less frequently.
What is Lead Time for Changes?
Lead Time for Changes measures the time from code commit to production deployment. It includes code review, testing, and deployment. Elite teams achieve lead times of less than one day.
What is Change Failure Rate?
Change Failure Rate is the percentage of deployments that cause failures in production requiring hotfixes, rollbacks, or patches. Elite teams maintain a change failure rate of 0-15%.
What is Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)?
MTTR measures how long it takes to restore service after a production incident. Elite teams recover in less than one hour, while low performers may take over a week.
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