DevOps - Measuring Success

While you might not be able to get your head around how to measure DevOps when it is defined as a cultural and professional movement, there are some key factors to consider that will help us to measure the success of shifting to a collaborative and integrated team throughout the value stream that includes Dev and Ops.

It is clear that DevOps goes beyond the integration of the development and operation staff but includes breaking down those silos between all parties and stakeholders including the Business, external partners, and 3rd party suppliers and IT. If you think it is difficult to get your own internal teams to play in the same sandbox consider the challenges when 3^rd party vendors and suppliers are then thrown into the mix. Being able to demonstrate proof that DevOps practices benefit the organization requires examining factors that influence overall performance. Practices that enable your organization to improve the flow of work between the Business and Operations enables improved IT performance.

Important Factors

IT Performance in measured in terms of throughput and stability.

Throughput is measured by deployment frequency and lead time for change
Stability is measured by mean time to recover and the ability to preemptively detect and mitigate problems

Simply put, you cannot measure Development outcomes separately from Operational outcomes.

Key Metrics

Showing proof that DevOps practices benefit the organization also requires baselining key metrics before and after making improvements and can include:

Deployment Frequency
Change Lead Time – Time from request to delivery
Cycle Time – Time from start of work to ready for delivery to customer
Change Failure Rate – Backed out, Rescheduled or unforeseen impact/incidents
MTTD – Mean time to detect incidents
MTTR - Mean Time to Recover or repair - Component
MTRS - Mean Time to Restore - Service

Change lead time is one of the most important metrics as it represents what the customer sees. Cycle time is a more mechanical measure of process capability. Lead time depends on cycle time, but also depends on your willingness to keep a backlog, the customer’s patience, and the customer’s readiness for delivery. MTTR is measured from when a component fails until it is repaired. MTTR does not include the time required to recover or restore service. e.g., data may need to be recovered before service is fully restored and delivering its normal functionality.

Sources: https://www.itsmacademy.com/Page.bok?file=class_schedule.html#Agile

Comments

Four Service Characteristics

Recently I came across several articles by researchers and experts that laid out definitions and characteristics of services. ITIL provides us with a definition that can help drive the creation of value-laden services: A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. An area that ITIL is not so clear is in terms of service characteristics. Several researchers and experts put forth that services have four basic characteristics (IHIP): Intangibility—Services are the results of actions not things. They have no physical presence and represent a logical set of elements. One way to think of service is “work done for others.” Heterogeneity—Also known as “variability”; services are unique items because of the mechanisms used to deliver services, which is people. Because the people element adds variability, the service is variable. This holds true, especially for the value proposition—not eve...

What Is A Service Offering?

The ITIL 4 Best Practice Guidance defines a “Service Offering” as a description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target customer or group. As a service provider, we can’t stop there! We must know what the contracts of our service offering are and be able to put them into context as required by the customer. Let’s explore the three elements that comprise a Service Offering. A “Service Offering” may include: Goods, Access to Resources, and Service Actions 1. Goods – When we think of “Goods” within a service offering these are the items where ownership is transferred to the consumer and the consumer takes responsibility for the future use of these goods. Example of goods that are being provided in the offering – If this is a hotel service then toiletries or chocolates are yours to take with you. You the consumer own these and they are yours to take with you. ...

What is the difference between Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner?

This article was originally published in 2015. With the Introduction of ITIL 4, some of this best practice has changed. See ITIL 4 and the Evolving Role of Roles . Updated Definitions in ITIL 4: Process Owner: In ITIL 4, the concept of 'processes' has expanded into broader 'practices.' Consequently, the Process Owner is now often referred to as the 'Practice Owner.' This individual is accountable for the overall design, performance, integration, and improvement of a specific practice within the organization. They ensure that the practice achieves its intended outcomes and aligns with the organization's objectives. Process Manager: Now commonly known as the 'Practice Manager' in ITIL 4, this role is responsible for the day-to-day management of the practice. The Practice Manager ensures that activities are carried out as intended, manages resources assigned to the practice, and oversees the practitioners performing the work. Process Practit...

Search