Chaos Engineering

Chapter 9. Chaos Maturity Model

We chose to formalize the definition of Chaos Engineering so that we could know when we are doing it, whether we are doing it well, and how to do it better. The Chaos Maturity Model (CMM) gives us a way to map out the state of a chaos program within an organization. Once you plot out your program on the map, you can set goals for where you want it to be, and compare it to the placement other programs. If you want to improve the program, the axis of the map suggests where to focus your effort.

The two metrics in the CMM are sophistication and adoption. Without sophistication, the experiments are dangerous, unreliable, and potentially invalid. Without adoption, the tooling will have no impact. Prioritize investment between these two metrics as you see fit, knowing that a certain amount of balance is required for the program to be at all effective.

Sophistication

Understanding sophistication of your program informs the validity and safety of chaos experimentation within the organization. Distinct aspects of the program will have varying degrees of sophistication: some will have none at all while others will be advanced. The level of sophistication might also vary between different chaos experimentation efforts. We can describe sophistication as elementary, simple, advanced, and sophisticated:

Elementary

• Experiments are not run in production.

• The process is administered manually.

• Results reflect system metrics, not business metrics.

• Simple ...