What are DORA metrics?

DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) metrics are four key measurements of software delivery performance, derived from six years of research by the DORA team at Google. They are the most widely validated framework for measuring DevOps performance.

The four metrics

Deployment Frequency: How often code is deployed to production. Elite performers deploy multiple times per day; low performers deploy less than once per month.

Lead Time for Changes: Time from code commit to production deployment. Elite performers achieve sub-hour lead times.

Time to Restore Service (MTTR): How quickly a service is restored after an incident. Elite performers recover in under an hour.

Change Failure Rate: Percentage of deployments causing a failure requiring remediation. Elite performers maintain 0–15%.

Key finding from DORA research: Elite performers are 2× as likely to meet or exceed their reliability targets and report significantly better team wellbeing and lower burnout rates. Speed and stability are not a trade-off — they move together.