What are DORA metrics?
The four key measures of software delivery performance from the DORA research program.
Definition
DORA metrics are four measures of software delivery performance identified by the DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) program: deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and mean time to recovery. Together they balance throughput (how fast you ship) against stability (how safely you ship).
How it’s measured
Each metric is computed from your delivery data: deployments and their outcomes, commit-to-production timing, and incident recovery times. Modern tools derive them automatically from version control, CI/CD, and incident sources rather than manual tracking.
What good looks like
DORA classifies teams as Elite, High, Medium, or Low. Elite teams deploy on demand (multiple times per day), have lead times under an hour, change failure rates of 5-10%, and recover from incidents in under an hour.
Why it matters
DORA metrics are the most widely adopted, research-backed baseline for engineering performance — a common language between engineering and the business. They are a starting point, not the whole picture, which is why they pair well with SPACE and developer-experience signals.
Related terms
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