The Art of CTO Engineering Metrics Dashboard tracks DORA metrics — deployment frequency, lead time for changes, mean time to recovery, and change failure rate — to measure engineering team performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the four DORA metrics?
The four DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) metrics are: deployment frequency (how often code reaches production), lead time for changes (time from commit to production), change failure rate (percentage of deployments causing incidents), and mean time to recovery (how quickly you restore service after failure). Together, these metrics measure both delivery speed and stability.
What is a good deployment frequency?
Elite-performing teams deploy on demand, often multiple times per day. High performers deploy between once per week and once per month. The key insight from DORA research is that higher deployment frequency correlates with better stability, not worse — teams that deploy frequently tend to have smaller, safer changes and faster recovery times.
How do you improve DORA metrics?
Improving DORA metrics requires investing in CI/CD automation, reducing batch sizes, implementing trunk-based development, and building robust testing pipelines. Start by measuring your current baseline, then focus on the biggest bottleneck — often lead time for changes. Automated testing, feature flags, and progressive delivery practices like canary deployments help improve both speed and stability simultaneously.