How well-defined metrics enhance DevOps success

Source – jaxenter.com

When the information shared is inadequate, planning is haphazard and there is no clearly visible aim, collaboration is highly difficult to achieve within the project teams. In any company, there are crucial hurdles to overcome. This is more in product companies with teams that are distributed globally and working on various components of the product pipeline. For companies that have adopted a DevOps initiative, there are even more hurdles to clear.

Many enterprises nowadays accepted DevOps as part of the software delivery process, starting from planning to updating an application based on reviews. DevOps enables businesses to match their speed with the rapid pace of demands by the customers. Today, customers demand products that offer high security along with quality. By making the maximum use of its principles, DevOps lowers the risk and provides superior quality. On the flip side, in a traditional software development approach, enhanced speed often results in increased vulnerabilities and poor quality.

The importance of metrics

Most companies implement DevOps because of their need for defect-free products, time improvement and demand for quality. As DevOps doesn’t have a particular framework specified for it, few standard ways to measure the DevOps success. How will you know its efficiency? How can you know whether it is working or not?

The solution to all the problems that are existing and in particular, the answer to this question, is the usage of Metrics. Metrics are needed in order to stay in sync with DevOps. DevOps will be utilized to a greater degree which therefore needs continuous treatment. You will not be able to use DevOps in your company if you are not measuring its outcomes. The DevOps metrics’ focus is on support (feedback), operations and deployment. Here are some of the DevOps metrics that will lead to enhanced delivery performances below.

Process

DevOps is regarded as a continuous deployment process in some ways. Many process-oriented metrics are present. Development to deployment is a huge process oriented metrics. The Process metrics can be the measurement of effectiveness, appropriateness and speed.

Technology

In DevOps, technology metrics also play a key role. Technology metrics measures things such as failure rate, network and support, and uptime (computer performs operations during this time).

Change (or deployment) frequency

DevOps metrics incorporates continuous deployment. Every few days, new software deployment is possible with piecemeal development and fast feedback. The measurement of deployment frequency can be done in terms of the overall efficiency, development tools, developer capacities, teamwork and response time.

Change failure rate

Performing frequent deployment with very low failure rates is one of the major goals of DevOps.  As the capabilities and experience of developers and team get bigger, failure rates metrics must be decreased over time. It is definitely a red flag if the failure frequency is very high, as it gives rise to problems in the overall DevOps process.

Mean time to recover

The time that is taken between ‘failure’ and ‘recovering the failure’ is known as MTTR(Mean Time to Recover). It can be broken down into 3 phases – recovery, diagnosis and detection phases. MTTR metrics is the true reflection of a good teamwork that determines how efficiently the teams manage the changes and also, how well they does in a collaborative way. This metrics is becoming as a trend for DevOps to reshape the processes of an organization in a much better way.

Change lead time

The time period between initialization phase and the deployment phase is known as change lead time. Change lead time is a measure of the complexity of code of development systems, development process efficiency and of team capabilities. An inefficient deployment system is indicated by a protracted change lead time.

People

People are the key elements of a DevOps process. Things like response time, capacity and yielding are measured by the people-oriented metrics. People are the hardest element of DevOps.

Conclusion

DevOps is a cultural change and businesses measure the efficiency in an obvious way most of the time. Nevertheless, a change in the way the company functions should be seen in such a way that metrics can create long-term value. Therefore, continuous measurement of DevOps practices must also become one of the major areas of focus of DevOps teams.