DORA Metrics Language — Engineering Performance Vocabulary
Practice the English vocabulary for describing and discussing DORA metrics with your team.
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A team deploys to production 15 times per day. How would you describe their Deployment Frequency?
DORA defines Elite performers as those deploying multiple times per day — this is the highest tier.
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The time from a commit being merged to it running in production is 45 minutes. Which DORA metric describes this?
Lead Time for Changes measures the elapsed time from code commit to code running in production.
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15% of production deployments cause a failure requiring a hotfix or rollback. Which DORA metric is this?
Change Failure Rate measures the percentage of deployments that result in a production failure.
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After a production incident, the team restored the service in 12 minutes. Which metric does this measure?
MTTR (Mean Time to Recovery) measures how quickly a team can restore service after a failure.
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A manager says: Our DORA metrics show we are in the Low tier for Lead Time. What does this mean for the team?
DORA Low tier for Lead Time for Changes means the cycle from commit to production takes between 1 week and 1 month.
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PR Description: 'Just a small tweak to the user authentication flow. Fixed a minor bug where users weren't logging in correctly after updating their profile picture. No impact on other services.'
During a code review, your teammate asks you to quantify the *change size* represented by this PR. Which of the following best describes what they're asking for, using DORA terminology?
This question assesses understanding of *Change Size*, a key component of Lead Time. The teammate is implicitly asking for an assessment of how much work was involved – in this case, modifications to a core feature within a single module suggests a 'Medium' change size. Options A and B are too granular; A doesn't adequately capture the scope, while B incorrectly implies a single module is always low complexity. Option D highlights the need for more information, but doesn't provide the specific metric being requested.
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During a code review, your teammate asks you to quantify the *change size* represented by this PR. They say: 'Let's talk about the size of this change – how much work is actually being introduced with this pull request?' Which of the following best describes what they're asking for, using DORA terminology?
This relates to understanding the potential impact and complexity associated with the code.
The teammate is inquiring about *Change Size*, a key DORA metric. Change size reflects the amount of code altered in a single pull request and directly impacts Lead Time. While other options (Lead Time, Deployment Frequency, and Error Rate) are also important DORA metrics, they don't specifically address the quantity or scope of the modifications within a change itself. A large change size generally correlates with longer lead times and potentially higher error rates.
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PR Description: 'Just a small tweak to the user authentication flow. Fixed a minor bug where users weren't logging in correctly after updating their profile picture. No impact on other services.'
During a code review, your teammate asks you to quantify the *change size* represented by this PR. Which of the following best describes what they're asking for, using DORA terminology?
This question assesses understanding of *Change Size*, a key component of Lead Time. The teammate is implicitly asking for an assessment of how much work was involved – in this case, modifications to a core feature within a single module suggests a 'Medium' change size. Options A and B are too granular; A doesn't adequately capture the scope, while B incorrectly implies a single module is always low complexity. Option D highlights the need for more information, but doesn't provide the specific metric being requested.
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During a code review, your teammate asks you to quantify the *change size* represented by this PR. They say: 'Let's talk about the size of this change – how much work is actually being introduced with this pull request?' Which of the following best describes what they're asking for, using DORA terminology?
This relates to understanding the potential impact and complexity associated with the code.
The teammate is inquiring about *Change Size*, a key DORA metric. Change size reflects the amount of code altered in a single pull request and directly impacts Lead Time. While other options (Lead Time, Deployment Frequency, and Error Rate) are also important DORA metrics, they don't specifically address the quantity or scope of the modifications within a change itself. A large change size generally correlates with longer lead times and potentially higher error rates.
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PR Description: 'Just a small tweak to the user authentication flow. Fixed a minor bug where users weren't logging in correctly after updating their profile picture. No impact on other services.'
During a code review, your teammate asks you to quantify the *change size* represented by this PR. Which of the following best describes what they're asking for, using DORA terminology?
This question assesses understanding of *Change Size*, a key component of Lead Time. The teammate is implicitly asking for an assessment of how much work was involved – in this case, modifications to a core feature within a single module suggests a 'Medium' change size. Options A and B are too granular; A doesn't adequately capture the scope, while B incorrectly implies a single module is always low complexity. Option D highlights the need for more information, but doesn't provide the specific metric being requested.
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During a code review, your teammate asks you to quantify the *change size* represented by this PR. They say: 'Let's talk about the size of this change – how much work is actually being introduced with this pull request?' Which of the following best describes what they're asking for, using DORA terminology?
This relates to understanding the potential impact and complexity associated with the code.
The teammate is inquiring about *Change Size*, a key DORA metric. Change size reflects the amount of code altered in a single pull request and directly impacts Lead Time. While other options (Lead Time, Deployment Frequency, and Error Rate) are also important DORA metrics, they don't specifically address the quantity or scope of the modifications within a change itself. A large change size generally correlates with longer lead times and potentially higher error rates.
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PR Description: 'Just a small tweak to the user authentication flow. Fixed a minor bug where users weren't logging in correctly after updating their profile picture. No impact on other services.'
During a code review, your teammate asks you to quantify the *change size* represented by this PR. Which of the following best describes what they're asking for, using DORA terminology?
This question assesses understanding of *Change Size*, a key component of Lead Time. The teammate is implicitly asking for an assessment of how much work was involved – in this case, modifications to a core feature within a single module suggests a 'Medium' change size. Options A and B are too granular; A doesn't adequately capture the scope, while B incorrectly implies a single module is always low complexity. Option D highlights the need for more information, but doesn't provide the specific metric being requested.
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During a code review, your teammate asks you to quantify the *change size* represented by this PR. They say: 'Let's talk about the size of this change – how much work is actually being introduced with this pull request?' Which of the following best describes what they're asking for, using DORA terminology?
This relates to understanding the potential impact and complexity associated with the code.
The teammate is inquiring about *Change Size*, a key DORA metric. Change size reflects the amount of code altered in a single pull request and directly impacts Lead Time. While other options (Lead Time, Deployment Frequency, and Error Rate) are also important DORA metrics, they don't specifically address the quantity or scope of the modifications within a change itself. A large change size generally correlates with longer lead times and potentially higher error rates.
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During a standup update, Sarah says: 'Our Lead Time is currently 30 hours. We're working on reducing the number of manual steps in our deployment process.' What does she *primarily* refer to when discussing 'Lead Time'?
Lead Time, in DORA metrics, specifically measures the time from code commit to production release. Option B is the most accurate definition – it encompasses the entire process. Options A and C relate to other metrics like Cycle Time or Change Failure Rate, while option D concerns user behavior, not the delivery pipeline itself.
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You receive an API response from a microservice monitoring tool:
{
"metric":"LeadTime",
"value": "72 hours",
"unit":"hours"
}
What does this response *most* directly indicate?
This API response provides a specific measurement of Lead Time – the elapsed duration between the code's initial commit and its successful delivery into production. Option A refers to team size, B to resource consumption, and D to error rates; only option C accurately reflects the meaning of this LeadTime metric.
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During a Slack conversation about a recent feature release, David asks: 'Let's talk about the change size – how much work is actually being introduced with this pull request?' What aspect of DORA metrics is David *most* interested in?
David is specifically inquiring about 'Change Size,' a key component of DORA's Change Failure Rate metric. This refers to the complexity and size of code changes introduced in a pull request. Options A and B relate to testing or stability, while option D concerns velocity – a different metric altogether.
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Your team's PR description reads: 'Implemented a new user authentication flow using OAuth2. Resolved several bugs related to password resets and session management. This update improves security and reduces support tickets.'
During a code review, your reviewer asks: 'Considering this change, what metric would best represent the *risk* associated with deploying it?'
The reviewer is assessing risk based on 'Change Size,' which directly relates to the potential for introducing bugs or instability into the system. Larger, more complex changes inherently carry a higher risk. Options A and B relate to code volume or cycle time, while option D focuses on user impact – an important consideration but not the primary measure of deployment risk.
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A senior developer says: 'We're aiming for a Lead Time of under 8 hours. That means we need to streamline our testing process and reduce the manual approvals.' What is the *primary* goal behind this statement regarding DORA metrics?
Lead Time is fundamentally a measure of delivery speed and efficiency. Reducing it (to under 8 hours in this example) indicates a focus on streamlining the entire process – from code commit to production release – to improve responsiveness and faster feature delivery. Options A and C are tangential, while option D relates to cost optimization, not the core metric itself.
What does the "DORA Metrics Language — Engineering Performance Vocabulary" exercise practise?
Practice the English vocabulary for describing and discussing DORA metrics with your team.
How many questions are in this exercise?
This exercise has 18 questions, each multiple-choice with a full explanation shown after you answer.
What English level is this exercise for?
This exercise is tagged Intermediate. If the vocabulary feels difficult, browse the Data Visualization category page for an easier module to start with.
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Do I get feedback if I answer incorrectly?
Yes — whichever option you choose, right or wrong, you'll immediately see an explanation clarifying the correct term and why the other options don't fit.
Can I retry this exercise?
Yes — once you finish all the questions, a "Try again" button on the results screen resets the exercise so you can practise as many times as you like.
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Is "DORA Metrics Language — Engineering Performance Vocabulary" part of a larger series?
Yes — it's one exercise in the Data Visualization category on CoderSlingo. See the category page for the full list of related exercises on similar terminology.
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Where can I find more exercises like this one?
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