Metrics Quickstart
Set up essential CD metrics in one day and start improving delivery performance
Metrics Overview
An overview of key metrics for measuring and improving Continuous Delivery performance
2 minute read
Metrics are crucial for organizational improvement. Without measurement, improvement attempts are aimless. This guide outlines key metrics for Continuous Delivery (CD) and Continuous Integration (CI).
Quick Start
📚 Metrics Quickstart - Set up essential CD metrics in one day
Goodhart's Law
CD Execution Metrics
These metrics measure our ability to reliably and sustainably deliver high-quality changes through frequent, small batches.
Throughput
Key Metrics
Stability
Key Metrics
CI Execution Metrics
Continuous Integration is the foundation of Continuous Delivery. These metrics focus on amplifying quality feedback.
Key Metrics
Integration Frequency Guidelines
- Mob programming: Several times a day
- Pair programming: Several times a day per pair
- Individual tasks: Several times a day per developer
Workflow Management Metrics
These metrics help manage and optimize the overall development workflow.
Key Metrics
Metrics Usage Guide
- Use metrics in offsetting groups
- Focus improvement efforts on the group of metrics as a whole, not individual measures
- Refer to the Metrics Cheat Sheet for a high-level view of key metrics, their intent, and appropriate usage
Remember
Metrics, like any tool, must be used correctly to drive the improvement we need. Focusing on a single metric can lead to unintended consequences and suboptimal outcomes.Metrics Cheat Sheet
Quick reference guide for key CD metrics with targets and improvement strategies
Average Build Downtime
Time the build stays broken before being fixed - measures team discipline and CI commitment
Build Duration
Time for CI pipeline to complete - critical for fast feedback and should be under 10 minutes
Change Fail Rate
Percentage of changes that result in degraded service or require remediation - a key DORA stability metric
Code Coverage
Percentage of code exercised by tests - useful indicator but can be gamed, use with caution
Code Inventory
Amount of code written but not yet delivered to production - represents unrealized value and risk
Defect Rate
Measure of escaped defects found in production, indicating test effectiveness and quality processes
Delivery Frequency
How often changes are deployed to production - a key DORA metric measuring throughput and team capability
Development Cycle Time
Average time from starting work until release to production - a key flow metric for identifying delivery bottlenecks and improving feedback speed
Code Integration Frequency
How often code is integrated to trunk/main - indicator of CI practice maturity and team collaboration
Lead Time
Total time from customer request to delivery in production - measures entire value stream efficiency
Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
Average time to restore service after an incident - a key DORA stability metric measuring recovery capability
Quality Metrics
Comprehensive view of quality indicators including defects, test coverage, and technical debt
Velocity / Throughput
Amount of work completed per iteration - team capacity planning metric that should be used carefully, not as productivity measure
Work in Progress (WIP)
Count of started but unfinished work - leading indicator of flow problems and context switching