Development Frequency - how often an organization successfully releases production Lead Time for Changes - the amount of time it takes a commit to get into production Change Failure Rate - The percentage of deployments causing a failure in production Time to Restore Service - how long it takes an organization to recover from a failure in production
These metrics were developed by Google1
A fifth metric was added reliability which encompasses availability, latency, performance and scalability2.
Alternate views
Some have argued that the only metric that matters is Lead Time for Changes, since speed is all that matters. Tracking change failure rate creates fear and caution in the organization. Rather, accept failures and focus on mean time to repair3.
1. Portman, D. Use Four Keys metrics like change failure rate to measure your DevOps performance. Google Cloud Blog (2020).
2. Smith, D. Announcing DORA 2021 Accelerate State of DevOps report. (2021).
3. Glover, A. Perverse incentives and DORA metrics. The Disco Blog (2024).