Developer Productivity Glossary
Clear definitions of the metrics and concepts that engineering leaders use to understand team performance. Each term includes a substantive definition, measurement guidance, benchmarks, and frequently asked questions.
DORA Metrics
DORA metrics are four key measures of software delivery performance identified by Google's DevOps Research and Assessment team: deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and mean time to recovery.
Developer Velocity
Developer velocity is the rate at which engineering teams deliver business value through software. It measures team-level throughput and efficiency, not individual developer speed.
Cycle Time
Cycle time is the elapsed time from a developer's first commit on a task to when that code is merged or deployed. It reflects how efficiently a team moves work through its development process.
Engineering Team Health
Engineering team health is a holistic assessment of how well a software team operates, encompassing collaboration patterns, review responsiveness, knowledge distribution, and sustainable delivery pace.
Lead Time for Changes
Lead time for changes is one of the four DORA metrics, measuring the elapsed time from when code is committed to when it is successfully running in production.
Read our complete guide: The Complete Guide to Developer Productivity Metrics