Google recently released its 2024 Cloud DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) report, bringing together a decade’s worth of trends, insights, and best practices on what drives high performance in software delivery across industries of all sizes. This year’s findings take a closer look at how DevOps teams can achieve greater resilience and efficiency by adopting AI, improving team well-being, and building powerful internal platforms.

To help you make the most of these insights, Mezmo hosted a webinar unpacking the DORA report that focuses on high-performance metrics, AI integration, and other actionable strategies. Whether you are looking to improve your team productivity, reduce burnout, or build new DevOps tools, this session will give you practical tips to apply right away.

Here’s a breakdown of the key takeaways from the 2024 DORA Accelerate State of DevOps report that can guide you on improving team efficiency and navigating emerging practices.

1. Four key metrics for software delivery performance

DORA identifies four key software delivery metrics that help technology-driven teams measure performance, prioritize improvements, and track progress.

1. Change lead time: the time it takes for a code commit or change to be successfully deployed to production.
2. Change fail rate: the percentage of deployments that cause failures in production, requiring hotfixes or rollbacks.
3. Deployment frequency: how often application changes are deployed to production.
4. Failed deployment recovery time: the time it takes to recover from a failed deployment.

‍

The report also highlights that DevOps performance is influenced by two factors: throughput and stability. There are four distinct clusters of performance: elite, high, medium, and low, and in each, throughput and stability are correlated. High-performing teams often achieve elite improvement rather than simply focusing on performance levels.

It’s interesting to note that industry does not significantly affect performance, with high-performing teams present in all verticals. Teams that focus on continuous improvement tend to gain significant benefits, making this approach valuable across any industry, organization, or team size.

2. The impact of AI adoption on the future of DevOps

AI adoption in software development has increased, offering improvement in coding, documentation, and test creation. However, it does not enhance overall software delivery performance. This surprising finding suggests that organizations need to balance AI benefits with possible downsides.

Over 39% of respondents have little or no trust in AI, raising concerns about its reliability. This indicates that AI introduces challenges that require human oversight and manual intervention to ensure reliable outcomes.  

‍

AI has brought a notable shift in DevOps by increasing efficiency and capabilities that teams welcome. However, a fear of negative impacts, like AI replacing human roles, also persists.  

3. The role of platform engineering in improving performance

Platform engineering is a growing field that boosts DevOps productivity by automating workflows and enabling self-service capabilities in software delivery. It focuses on creating tools and systems that give teams more autonomy while maintaining a strong user-centric approach. When done right, platform engineering can considerably enhance team efficiency and performance.

However, it has an unexpected downside, causing issues like reduced throughput and stability. Teams may also experience burnout if the balance between autonomy and functionality is not carefully maintained. 

4. Organizational practices that promote high performance

The DORA report carefully analyzes the role of organizational practices and leadership in team performance. It highlights that user-focused organizations create better products, improve team productivity, and reduce burnout. By adopting a user-centric approach and supporting it with strong internal documentation, teams can improve both product quality and overall performance.

Frequent shifts in organizational priorities often lead to uncertainty, reduced productivity, and increased burnout. The DORA report suggests stabilizing priorities to counteract these effects, though this may temporarily slow down software delivery. Stabilizing priorities is essential for improving employee well-being and managing the negative effects of constant changes.

Transformational leadership plays a pivotal role by aligning with team values and vision, which in turn enhances productivity, job satisfaction, and team performance while reducing burnout. Such leaders empower their teams by delegating autonomy, providing essential metrics, and focusing on value delivery, driving both technical and organizational growth.

5. Metrics and cloud for performance improvement

Tracking performance with key metrics, such as DORA’s four key metrics, is crucial for continuous improvement in DevOps. When you combine these technical metrics with user feedback and business metrics, you ensure that your IT investments are aligned with broader organizational goals. This approach leads to more informed decisions and better outcomes.

Since 2018, research has consistently shown that high-performing teams take full advantage of the five essential characteristics of cloud computing: self-service, network access, resource pooling, elasticity, and measured service. When you leverage these features fully, they can significantly enhance organizational performance. This analysis highlights the need for teams to rethink how they design and deploy applications to make the most of cloud technologies.

WATCH the Mezmo Webinar

Check out the 2024 Accelerate State of DevOps Webinar and take home practical tips to elevate your team’s performance. Grab your copy of the report here to get a head start, and get ready to dive into valuable insights!

‍