Software Architecture Metrics

Chapter 1. Four Key Metrics Unleashed

Andrew Harmel-Law

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim’s groundbreaking book Accelerate (IT Revolution Press, 2018) is both the first and last word on how to transform your software delivery performance, all measured by the simple yet powerful four key metrics.

Having based my transformation work around many of their book’s recommendations, I certainly have no issue with any of its content. But rather than removing the need for anything in even greater detail, I think the book should be discussed and analyzed further to enable the sharing of experiences and the gathering of a community of people practicing architecture who want to improve. I hope that this chapter will contribute to such a discussion.

I have seen, when used in the way described later in the chapter, that the four key metrics—deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and time to restore service—lead to a flowering of learning and allow teams to understand the need for a high-quality, loosely coupled, deliverable, testable, observable, and maintainable architecture. Deployed effectively, the four key metrics can allow you as an architect to loosen your grip on the tiller. Instead of dictating and controlling, you can use the four key metrics to generate conversations with team members and stimulate desire to improve overall software architecture beyond yourself. You can gradually move toward a more testable, ...