Standard Metrics for Continuous Delivery
Continuous Delivery encompasses all aspects of software development and is a holistic approach, which I define as: “going from idea to valuable, working software in the hands of users.”
Continuous Delivery is achieved by working so that our software is always in a releasable state.
Dave Farley, Continuous Delivery Pipelines - How To Build Better Software Faster, p. 4-5
This definition tells you what the final goal of Continuous Delivery (CD) is. It neither tells you whether you are moving towards the goal nor how close to the goal you are. Only measuring can tell you. The DORA metrics have become the standard metrics for Continuous Delivery.
Stability
The Change Failure Rate is the percentage of code changes (commits) that lead to failed runs of the CD pipeline or to bug reports from customers.
The Failure Recovery Time is the time it takes teams to repair pipeline failures or fix bugs.
Throughput
The Deployment Frequency measures how often teams release software to customers in a given period of time.
The Lead Time for Changes is the time from a code change (commit) to the customer receiving a release with this change.