DORA metrics

Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)

Introduction

Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) is a key metric from the DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) report that evaluates how quickly an organization can restore a service after a failure. Its significance lies in measuring the reliability and resilience of the software development and deployment process. A low MTTR indicates efficient recovery processes, contributing to greater system stability and an improved user experience.

Calculating MTTR

MTTR is determined by measuring the time difference between the introduction of a problem (through a faulty Pull Request) and its resolution (via a recovery PR). Our methodology follows three fundamental steps:

1. Identifying Recovery PRs

The first step involves detecting PRs intended to fix failures or bugs. This is done by searching for specific keywords in PR titles, such as terms related to hotfixes, rollbacks, or reverts. PRs containing these terms are categorized as recovery PRs and analyzed in detail.

2. Identifying the Original Faulty PR

For each recovery PR, it is necessary to determine the PR that originally introduced the issue. This is achieved by identifying the most recent PR merged before the recovery PR.

3. Calculating Recovery Time

Once the original faulty PR is identified, MTTR is calculated by measuring the time difference between the merge time of the recovery PR and the faulty PR. This difference is then converted into standardized hours to ensure consistency in reporting.

Importance of MTTR

  • Indicates system resilience: A low MTTR suggests that the team can respond to incidents and restore services efficiently.
  • Enhances user experience: Reducing recovery time minimizes service disruptions for end users.
  • Facilitates continuous improvement: Monitoring MTTR over time helps identify trends, optimize processes, and refine recovery strategies.
  • Aligns with DevOps best practices: DORA metrics, including MTTR, help organizations benchmark their performance against industry standards and set realistic improvement goals.

Conclusion

Automating the tracking and calculation of MTTR provides valuable insights into software delivery performance. Identifying recovery PRs, linking them to faulty PRs, and computing recovery times enables a data-driven approach to improving system reliability. Continuously optimizing MTTR helps DevOps teams handle incidents more effectively, ensuring more stable and resilient development processes.

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