DORA metrics and AI with Nathen Harvey of Google

About Nathen Harvey:

Nathen is a Developer Relations Engineer and the lead of the DORA team at Google Cloud. DORA enables teams and organizations to thrive by making industry-shaping research accessible and actionable. Nathen has learned and shared lessons from some incredible organizations, teams, and open source communities. He is a co-author of multiple DORA reports on software delivery performance and was a contributor and editor for 97 Things Every Cloud Engineer Should Know, published by O'Reilly in 2020.

Nathan on Linkedin

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to DORA and its Evolution
03:04 Designing Surveys for Software Delivery Research
10:19 The Four Key Metrics for Software Delivery Performance
18:46 Exploring the Impact of AI in Software Development
27:02 Considerations for Security and Compliance in AI Adoption
31:38 DORA's Adoption and Internal Use at Google

Summary
In this conversation, Ankit Jain interviews Nathen Harvey, the leader of Dora at Google Cloud, about the evolution and use of Dora metrics in software delivery and operations. Dora is a research program that focuses on how teams can improve their software delivery and operation practices. The conversation covers the history of Dora, the design of surveys, the four key metrics for software delivery performance (lead time for changes, deployment frequency, change fail rate, and failed deployment recovery time), and the role of AI in software development. They also discuss the importance of security and compliance when adopting AI and the interplay between Dora metrics and internal surveys within organizations.

Keywords

Dora metrics, software delivery, operations, surveys, AI, security, compliance

Takeaways

• Dora is a research program that helps teams improve their software delivery and operation practices.

• The four key metrics for software delivery performance are lead time for changes, deployment frequency, change fail rate, and failed deployment recovery time.

• AI can be used in various stages of the software delivery pipeline, such as coding assistants, code reviews, and change approval processes.

• Security and compliance are important considerations when adopting AI in software development.

• Organizations can customize Dora metrics and integrate them with internal surveys and visualization tools.
  

References:

• https://dora.dev

• https://dora.dev/guides/dora-metrics-four-keys

• https://dora.dev/guides/how-to-innovate-with-generative-ai

• https://dora.dev/research/2023/dora-report

• https://dora.dev/research/2022/dora-report - with security findings

• https://dora.community

• https://research.google/blog/resolving-code-review-comments-with-ml

• https://thenewstack.io/the-anatomy-of-slow-code-reviews