DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) metrics are a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of software development and delivery processes. These metrics were popularized by the DORA group through their research and are widely regarded as the gold standard for assessing DevOps performance.
There are four primary DORA metrics:
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Deployment Frequency: Measures how often an organization successfully releases to production. Higher deployment frequency is an indicator of a more efficient and agile development process.
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Lead Time for Changes: This metric tracks the amount of time it takes for a code commit to get into production. Shorter lead times are indicative of a more streamlined and efficient development pipeline.
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Change Failure Rate: This measures the percentage of deployments that result in a failure in production (e.g., service outages, rollbacks). A lower change failure rate suggests more stable and reliable releases.
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Time to Restore Service: This metric assesses how quickly an organization can recover from a failure in production. Faster recovery times indicate more resilient systems and effective incident response processes.
These metrics provide insights into the stability and efficiency of a team's software delivery process, helping organizations identify areas for improvement and benchmark their performance against industry standards.