value insights

8 Metrics To Measure At DevOps- Valutrics

 

DevOps is a heroic, and often successful, attempt to link development and operations teams to make each side responsive to the other, while using automation to make the process of deploying software repeatable and less error-prone. There are plenty of places in the process where an organization can run aground on rocky shoals of woe.

In talking with executives, and reviewing articles and blog posts recounting tales of DevOps transitions, a few stumbling blocks began to appear on a consistent basis. This list is based on all of those encounters, leavened with a healthy pinch of my own experience managing development and management teams. As we look into each of these pitfalls, three broad themes emerge:

Culture
Procedure
Communication

As you look at each of the eight points of failure we spotlight here, you’ll find they fit into (at least) one of these broad themes. Notice that technology is not one of the themes. Even though automation is a requisite part of DevOps, the tools will work out. Barring the most bizarre circumstances, tools won’t sink a DevOps transition unless the project is already in serious trouble.

 

Eight metrics may be used to keep track of  success and progress.

  1. Frequency of deployments – The number should either remain steady or go up week to week.
  2. Volume of changes – Measure the volume and complexity of user stories and new lines of code deployed.
  3. Amount of time from development to deployment – The lead time from when the code begins development till it’s deployed to production. The amount of time should decline as the team develops – and is a central gauge of how efficient the process is and where it must be improved.
  4. What is the ratio of unsuccessful deployments? – How often do deployments fail or even cause outages? As DevOps is implemented, the quality of the deployments should go up and the percentage of failed deployments should go down.
  5. Recovery Time – This is perhaps the greatest test of the quality of the team – how long does it take to recover when a failure does occur. Although the time should generally trend downwards, teams should not be discouraged by the occasional spike as they run into issues for the first time.
  6. Customer Tickets – The goal of DevOps is to increase deployments without causing failures. By reviewing the number of customer tickets you’ll have a good idea how well you’re doing.
  7. Increase in user volume – By tracking how many users are signing up you can make sure the organization can handle the new requests.
  8. Response Time – This number should remain steady no matter the percentages of change in user volume as the product should be functioning in predetermined thresholds.