Build fluency in the terminology behind the four DORA software delivery metrics.
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At standup, a dev references the four widely used metrics for measuring software delivery performance, originating from Google's DevOps research. What are these called?
DORA metrics (from the DevOps Research and Assessment team) are four measures, deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and time to restore service, used to benchmark software delivery and operational performance. They are widely adopted as an industry standard. Unlike story points, they measure delivery outcomes rather than internal estimation units.
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During a design review, the team discusses how often they successfully ship to production. Which DORA metric are they measuring?
Deployment frequency measures how often an organization successfully releases to production, with elite performers deploying on demand, multiple times per day. Higher frequency is generally associated with smaller, lower-risk changes. It is one of the four core DORA metrics.
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In a code review, a dev references the time from a commit being made to that code running successfully in production. Which metric is this?
Lead time for changes measures the elapsed time from a code commit to that change successfully running in production, capturing the overall efficiency of the delivery pipeline. Shorter lead times generally indicate a more streamlined, less bottlenecked process. It complements deployment frequency in assessing delivery speed.
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An incident report shows a spike in the percentage of deployments causing production failures over the last quarter. Which DORA metric captures this trend?
Change failure rate tracks the percentage of deployments that result in a degraded service or require remediation, directly reflecting release quality and risk. A rising trend signals a need to investigate testing, review, or deployment practices. It balances the speed-focused metrics by measuring reliability impact.
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During a PR review, a teammate asks why DORA metrics are tracked together instead of optimizing just one, like deployment frequency, in isolation. What is the reasoning?
The four DORA metrics are designed to be viewed together because optimizing purely for speed, like deployment frequency, without also tracking change failure rate and recovery time can mask a rising risk of instability. Balanced tracking reveals whether speed gains come at the cost of reliability. This combined view is what makes DORA metrics useful as a holistic delivery health signal.