How to use the DORA metrics to improve software team productivity

The metrics from the DORA have become the industry standard for good performance in software development teams. The research has been around for over a decade now – initially starting as a collaboration between Puppet and researchers including Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Gene Kim, and Jez Humble. It later spun out and ran as its own entity before being acquired by Google Cloud, which is where it sits today.

Since the 2018 publication of Accelerate, the 4 key metrics referenced in the book have become known as the DORA metrics and gained traction as the standard for measuring success in engineering. Every year, the DORA team at Google Cloud refreshes the research, identifying new emerging trends.

While the DORA metrics have contributed a great deal to the conversation about developer productivity, Nathen will tell you honestly that a commitment to improvement is more important than *which* metrics you use. So how do you do that? His talk will guide you from metrics to improvement, including:

• What the DORA metrics are
• Emerging trends from the latest annual research
• How to use metrics to drive a conversation
• How to set goals and run experiments to improve
• How teams can bring their leadership along on the journey

The real value of metrics is in helping teams continuously improve; Nathen will share the strategies he’s seen teams use to do just that.

About the speaker
Nathen Harvey leads the DORA team at Google Cloud, and has been involved with DORA since nearly the beginning! Nathen has learned and shared lessons from some incredible organizations, teams, and open source communities and regularly supports companies who are putting insights from DORA research to work.

Agenda for the session

• 30 min – Presentation and Q&A (this part will be recorded & shared later)
• 30 min – Discussion in small groups, where you can chat with peers about your own challenges and learnings (this part won't be recorded)

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