Identifying the right metrics, those Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that make the most sense in the context of the specific task at hand, is critical. By understanding how you are progressing against those metrics, you can make informed decisions, change course, or step up the acceleration. But what should you care about? What are the key influences on your business outcome? And what is everyone else doing?<\/p>\n
For me, the most logical approach to addressing these questions is the adoption of a framework called DevOps maturity assessments.<\/p>\n
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Transformation ready \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\nModern organisations are driven by technology, at the heart of which is software development. By developing and delivering software quickly and reliably, organisations aim to make their customers happy, deliver features ahead of their competitors, accomplish mission goals and win in the market. Of course, that usually doesn’t come for free – it means hard work, and often enough, it also means undertaking a technology transformation.<\/p>\n
A successful transformation means focussing on several key elements:<\/p>\n
\n- How you measure software delivery performance<\/li>\n
- How much and how often are you improving your capabilities – especially those critical capabilities that drive your business outcomes<\/li>\n
- Creating a road map of the capabilities to demonstrate how you will improve quarter to quarter (year to year is in this case looking too far ahead).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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Building on your capabilities<\/strong><\/h3>\nWhat, then, is a capability in this context? Capabilities are key processes and practices that predict software delivery performance. They usually fall into four categories:<\/p>\n
\n- Technical<\/em> – capture practices that are essential components of a continuous delivery practice<\/li>\n
- Lean\/ process<\/em> – important pieces about how the work is done<\/li>\n
- Metrics and monitoring<\/em> – how you use metrics and monitoring tools to make business decisions<\/li>\n
- Cultural<\/em> – measures of culture that indicate high trust and information flow, the value of learning, job satisfaction, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/p>\n
DevOps assessments <\/strong><\/h3>\nWe define DevOps as a set of practices and cultural values that has been proven to help organisations of all sizes improve their software release cycles, software quality, security, and ability to get rapid feedback on product development.<\/p>\n
To move forward in their DevOps journey, companies should outline, identify and map the areas they need to improve their capabilities. Having a clear idea of the maturity of your current IT performance, and not just infrastructure will help you greatly in this process. This is where DevOps assessments come into play: a set of questions that only your <\/em>team, department, or company can answer.<\/p>\nHow can a set of questions help you transform your business? The secret ingredients are WHAT are you trying to assess, and HOW does that information help you identify whether you are indeed moving in the right direction. You should ask yourself what elements can help you outline your current maturity levels and identify those critical items for inclusion in your backlog of capabilities improvements.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Where to start <\/strong><\/h3>\nAmong all the elements you could focus on, looking at software delivery performance should be considered the baseline. The reference standard on what you should be assessing is the work that Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim have done, outlined in their brilliant book, Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps<\/em>. It talks about four critical metrics, capturing two aspects of software delivery, Throughput,\u00a0<\/em>and Stability<\/em>.<\/p>\nThroughput<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Building on your capabilities<\/strong><\/h3>\nWhat, then, is a capability in this context? Capabilities are key processes and practices that predict software delivery performance. They usually fall into four categories:<\/p>\n
\n- Technical<\/em> – capture practices that are essential components of a continuous delivery practice<\/li>\n
- Lean\/ process<\/em> – important pieces about how the work is done<\/li>\n
- Metrics and monitoring<\/em> – how you use metrics and monitoring tools to make business decisions<\/li>\n
- Cultural<\/em> – measures of culture that indicate high trust and information flow, the value of learning, job satisfaction, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/p>\n
DevOps assessments <\/strong><\/h3>\nWe define DevOps as a set of practices and cultural values that has been proven to help organisations of all sizes improve their software release cycles, software quality, security, and ability to get rapid feedback on product development.<\/p>\n
To move forward in their DevOps journey, companies should outline, identify and map the areas they need to improve their capabilities. Having a clear idea of the maturity of your current IT performance, and not just infrastructure will help you greatly in this process. This is where DevOps assessments come into play: a set of questions that only your <\/em>team, department, or company can answer.<\/p>\nHow can a set of questions help you transform your business? The secret ingredients are WHAT are you trying to assess, and HOW does that information help you identify whether you are indeed moving in the right direction. You should ask yourself what elements can help you outline your current maturity levels and identify those critical items for inclusion in your backlog of capabilities improvements.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Where to start <\/strong><\/h3>\nAmong all the elements you could focus on, looking at software delivery performance should be considered the baseline. The reference standard on what you should be assessing is the work that Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim have done, outlined in their brilliant book, Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps<\/em>. It talks about four critical metrics, capturing two aspects of software delivery, Throughput,\u00a0<\/em>and Stability<\/em>.<\/p>\nThroughput<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
DevOps assessments <\/strong><\/h3>\nWe define DevOps as a set of practices and cultural values that has been proven to help organisations of all sizes improve their software release cycles, software quality, security, and ability to get rapid feedback on product development.<\/p>\n
To move forward in their DevOps journey, companies should outline, identify and map the areas they need to improve their capabilities. Having a clear idea of the maturity of your current IT performance, and not just infrastructure will help you greatly in this process. This is where DevOps assessments come into play: a set of questions that only your <\/em>team, department, or company can answer.<\/p>\nHow can a set of questions help you transform your business? The secret ingredients are WHAT are you trying to assess, and HOW does that information help you identify whether you are indeed moving in the right direction. You should ask yourself what elements can help you outline your current maturity levels and identify those critical items for inclusion in your backlog of capabilities improvements.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Where to start <\/strong><\/h3>\nAmong all the elements you could focus on, looking at software delivery performance should be considered the baseline. The reference standard on what you should be assessing is the work that Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim have done, outlined in their brilliant book, Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps<\/em>. It talks about four critical metrics, capturing two aspects of software delivery, Throughput,\u00a0<\/em>and Stability<\/em>.<\/p>\nThroughput<\/em><\/p>\n
How can a set of questions help you transform your business? The secret ingredients are WHAT are you trying to assess, and HOW does that information help you identify whether you are indeed moving in the right direction. You should ask yourself what elements can help you outline your current maturity levels and identify those critical items for inclusion in your backlog of capabilities improvements.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Where to start <\/strong><\/h3>\nAmong all the elements you could focus on, looking at software delivery performance should be considered the baseline. The reference standard on what you should be assessing is the work that Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim have done, outlined in their brilliant book, Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps<\/em>. It talks about four critical metrics, capturing two aspects of software delivery, Throughput,\u00a0<\/em>and Stability<\/em>.<\/p>\nThroughput<\/em><\/p>\n
Throughput<\/em><\/p>\n
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