Dora and Space¶
Estimated time to read: 4 minutes
Let's start by defining both DORA and SPACE.
DORA¶
stands for "DevOps Research and Assessment." It is a research program that investigates the capabilities and practices that drive software delivery performance and organisational performance. Historically known for its "4 Key Metrics", DORA has officially introduced a 5th metric and heavily revised its models in recent State of DevOps (now State of AI-assisted Software Development) reports. The five key metrics that DORA focuses on include:
Deployment Frequency: Measures how often an organisation successfully deploys to production. High-performing organisations achieve high deployment frequency through mature continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) practices.
Lead Time for Changes: Measures the amount of time it takes for a code commit to reach production. Shorter lead times are indicative of efficient development workflows and automated testing cycles.
Change Failure Rate: The percentage of changes that result in a failure in production (e.g., bugs, system downtime) requiring a hotfix or rollback. A lower rate reflects effective quality assurance and testing measures.
Failed Deployment Recovery Time: Previously known as MTTR, this measures the time required to recover from a failed deployment in production. A shorter recovery time demonstrates superior incident response and automated recovery capabilities.
Rework Rate: The newest DORA metric that measures the volume of unplanned work or time spent fixing bugs as a percentage of total capacity. It is a critical indicator of overall software quality.
Note on Tiers: Historically, DORA grouped organisations into Low, Medium, High, and Elite tiers. This model is being retired in favor of granular, continuous distributions and AI Capabilities Models (such as identifying AI adoption levels across the SDLC).
SPACE Framework¶
The SPACE framework, introduced by Nicole Forsgren and colleagues, provides a holistic way to measure developer productivity beyond simple output. SPACE is an acronym for:
Satisfaction and Well-being: Measures how fulfilled developers feel and how their work impacts their health. This includes employee net promoter scores (eNPS) and burnout risk assessments.
Performance: Focuses on the outcome of a process, such as quality and impact. It looks at the results of work rather than the volume, ensuring that efforts align with business value.
Activity: Tracks the count of actions or outputs, such as the number of pull requests, commits, or design documents produced. While useful, it must be balanced with other SPACE dimensions to avoid "vanity metrics".
Communication and Collaboration: Measures how well people and teams work together. This includes identifying documentation quality, onboarding time for new members, and the density of the team's social network.
Efficiency and Flow: Focuses on the ability to complete work with minimal interruptions. It tracks "flow time," the number of handoffs between teams, and the perceived "friction" in the delivery process.
Comparison between DORA and SPACE¶
Focus: DORA primarily focuses on objective performance outcomes of the delivery pipeline (e.g., speed and stability). The SPACE framework provides a multi-dimensional view of developer productivity, including human factors like satisfaction and collaboration.
Purpose: DORA targets the maturity of the technical delivery process. SPACE aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of how individuals and teams operate, ensuring that high performance is sustainable and doesn't lead to burnout.
Measurement: DORA relies on quantitative, system-generated data (e.g., commit timestamps). SPACE combines quantitative system data with qualitative developer sentiment data (e.g., surveys and interviews).
Implementation: DORA is optimised by improving technical automation and CI/CD pipelines. SPACE is optimised by improving team culture, reducing cognitive load, and enhancing the developer experience.
DORA and SPACE are not exclusive of each other but can be used in tandem to improve the effectiveness of your IT and DevOps practices. While DORA and SPACE have different focuses, they complement each other well. DORA's metrics can help you measure and track the performance of your DevOps practices, while SPACE provides a practical framework to organise your teams for optimal collaboration and productivity. By adopting both frameworks, you can create a highly efficient DevOps environment where teams are well-structured, communication is smooth, and performance is continually measured and improved.