Many organizations face challenges when it comes to effectively measuring their DevOps success. All too often, they rely on outdated metrics that cloud real progress and lead to misguided strategies with suboptimal results.
A fresh approach to measurement is needed — one backed by informed metrics that provide insight into the outcomes that truly matter to the organization. This article explores common pitfalls in DevOps measurement, demystifies a few misconceptions about key metrics and introduces a 2025 scorecard focused on achieving balanced, meaningful results in DevOps.
Misconception #1: ‘You Cannot Have Your Cake and Eat it Too’
One of the most persistent myths in DevOps is the belief that teams must choose between two important goals: Speed and security. The problem is that many DevOps teams view these two desirable outcomes as mutually exclusive. This misconception creates a sense of limitation, where development teams either prioritize rapid feature releases or focus heavily on compliance, believing they cannot have both.
Teams focused on speed might deliver quickly but result in quality issues, creating technical debt over time. On the other hand, teams that prioritize compliance and security may move at a snail’s pace, stifling innovation and preventing themselves from responding efficiently to new opportunities or urgent issues.
Organizations that learn to integrate both goals can foster a DevOps culture where agility and stability coexist, leading to more resilient systems and happier teams.
Misconception #2: ‘More is Better’
Another pitfall in DevOps measurement is the overemphasis on quantity-focused metrics, such as:
- Number of commits to source control
- Lines of code shipped
- Number of tickets or story points completed
These metrics are tempting because they are easy to measure and give a sense of activity. However, focusing too much on these vanity metrics can mislead teams into adopting a ‘more is better’ mindset. For instance, tracking ticket completion may push developers to prioritize quantity over the quality or impact of each change. This often results in superficial productivity and leads to a culture of metric gaming. Closing more tickets might impress higher-ups, but it will not necessarily advance key business goals.
The Risks of Misaligned Metrics
Metrics that emphasize speed or compliance alone can often lead to inefficiencies or, even worse, real-world consequences.
For Fast-First Teams: These teams prioritize quick releases, often at the expense of stability, resulting in customer-facing issues or accumulating technical debt. Speed-first teams may face increased maintenance costs and higher failure rates, leading to long-term damage to customer trust and a diminished user experience.
For Compliance-First Teams: Teams that focus too heavily on compliance often experience slower release cycles, which ironically increases risk. Consider a scenario where a team with a lengthy release cycle encounters a zero-day vulnerability. Their slow, inflexible release cadence may delay crucial patches, potentially leading to security risks and costly damage. In this case, a faster release cadence can enhance security by allowing teams to address issues promptly.
The 2025 DevOps Scorecard: Key Metrics
To move past these limitations, organizations should consider adopting a more holistic scorecard that promotes balance and meaningful outcomes. Enter the 2025 DevOps Scorecard, which relies on the software delivery metrics developed by DORA. This framework aligns speed and security with a focus on real-world impact and resilience.
Deployment Frequency: This metric tracks how often updates are released into production, reflecting a team’s agility and responsiveness to changing needs. Teams aiming for frequent, small releases can reduce the complexity of updates and make it easier to identify and fix potential issues.
Lead Time for Change: This metric measures the time it takes for a completed piece of work to reach production. Shorter lead times indicate an efficient and high-quality development pipeline, enabling teams to adapt quickly to business needs without compromising quality.
Change Failure Rate: The change failure rate calculates the percentage of deployments that result in failures or bugs. A low change failure rate signals a stable codebase and effective testing processes. Teams with a lower change failure rate can confidently release updates faster, knowing they can resolve any issues quickly.
Failed Deployment Recovery Time: This metric measures how long it takes to recover from a production failure. Fast recovery times reflect a team’s resilience and ability to maintain stable operations even when issues arise. Quick recoveries also minimize downtime and ensure a smoother user experience.
Continuous Improvement With DORA Metrics
DORA’s software delivery metrics allow teams to evolve beyond the limitations of vanity metrics. Instead of counting tickets or tracking superficial progress, these metrics emphasize meaningful outcomes that align with business goals. Teams using DORA metrics can focus on iterating improvements across each area of the development pipeline, moving closer to the DevOps ‘utopia’, where speed and quality go hand in hand.
Final Thoughts
In 2025, organizations can achieve a new level of DevOps maturity by leaving behind ineffective metrics and adopting DORA’s balanced approach. This shift to meaningful, outcome-driven metrics allows teams to deliver rapidly and securely, benefiting both organization and its customers. As companies embrace these advanced scorecards, DevOps practices can reach higher levels of effectiveness, driving success in an increasingly dynamic digital landscape.
