Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps

Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim built a research program that identified four key metrics predicting software delivery performance: deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and mean time to recovery. These became the DORA Metrics, now the industry standard for measuring engineering effectiveness. The research also established that technical practices, lean management, and culture (specifically Westrum’s generative culture typology) are statistically significant predictors of both delivery performance and organizational outcomes.

Resources

• Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim, “Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps” (IT Revolution Press, 2018)
• DORA Metrics — the four key metrics from the research
• Westrum’s Typology — the cultural model validated by the research