Cyberattacks can be devastating to an organization's growth. It can result in adverse effects like losing customers, business, clients, and money. This is why multinationals like Microsoft, Google, Netflix, and Spotify use a DevSecOps approach in their internal development process to improve deliverability with security built into the process.
DevSecOps (short for Development, Security, and Operations) integrates security throughout the software development and operations process. However, implementing DevSecOps tooling into your workflow is not enough. It is vital to set DevSecOps KPIs to assess the performance and success of the DevSecOps process within your organization.
Table of Contents
In this blog, we will learn you the following:
- What are DevSecOps KPIs?
- The role of DevSecOps KPIs
- 10 DevSecOps KPIs for Measuring Success
- Wrap up
What are DevSecOps KPIs?
DevSecOps KPIs are the key metrics that indicate the security performance in the software development life cycle and help quickly identify any bottlenecks in the process.
Moreover, data-driven metrics give an overview of what might happen. They give organizations a better understanding of the following:
- If a process is sustainable or not.
- Whether we are achieving the objectives or not.
- Whether a process is going well or not.
- Whether there are errors or disruptions.
The saying, "You can't improve what you don't measure." fits well here.
The role of DevSecOps KPIs
DevSecOps KPIs let you track the progress and success of DevSecOps practices in your software development pipeline, providing deep insights into the factors that influence success. These key metrics allow development, security, and operations teams to evaluate and measure collaborative workflows.
You can even track the progress of your business goals, like faster software-delivery lifecycle, better security, and increased quality. Furthermore, the key metrics provide essential data for transparency and control over the development pipeline. They also help organizations streamline development and improve software security and infrastructure. You can also identify software defects and the average time needed to fix those flaws.
Above all, DevSecOps KPIs allow organizations to know how DevSecOps is performing over time and the scope of improvement.
Let’s find out the ten DevSecOps KPIs for measuring success.
10 key DevSecOps KPIs for measuring success
DevSecOps KPIs provide deep insights into factors that illustrate DevSecOp's success. There's a myriad of critical metrics that measure how well DevSecOps is performing in your organization. However, make sure to choose the right metrics depending on the needs and goals of your company.
Here are some KPIs that can help you track the performance and success of the DevSecOps process.
1. Lead time
Lead time measures the time between a code commit and application deployment. It indicates the speed of the development process by reporting the time required to develop, test, and deliver a code.
Lesser lead time means a more efficient development process. It is a crucial metric for increasing the speed of deployment.
2. Application deployment frequency
Application deployment frequency measures how often the code is deployed to production. In other words, it measures the frequency of deploying code to development, test, and production environments. This metric indicates the agility and speed of your team.
It's recommended to measure the deployment frequency regularly to know the scope of improvement. A very low frequency may indicate a poor or imbalanced workflow.
Please note that a low deployment frequency is acceptable in the case of a complicated product, while a high deployment frequency is expected in the case of a new product.
3. Customer ticket volume
"A happy customer is a recurring customer."
Customer ticket volume is one of the primary metrics that define the success of DevSecOps. This metric measures end-user satisfaction, indicating several bugs and defects reported by a customer in a given period.
A large number of customer tickets means quality issues, while a small number indicates the efficiency of the application. The main goal of every business is to increase customer satisfaction, which eventually means an increase in sales.
4. Server availability
Server availability is a reliability metric that calculates when your server remains available. In other words, it tracks the uptime or downtime of an application over a given period.
Application downtime can be a nightmare for your business. Your server must remain available 24/7 to remain operational for the end users.
5. Change failure rate
Change failure rate measures the percentage of code changes and hotfixes after production. Furthermore, it indicates the percentage of failed production deployments.
It is a useful DevSecOps metric that reduces overall lead time and speeds up software delivery. In other words, it indicates the efficiency of your deployment process.
A high failure rate could indicate that you have an inefficient team or don't clearly understand your business goals and deployment process. As a result, you may face both financial and customer losses.
6. Change volume
It measures the average number of new functions, features, or code deployed in a given time. It indicates development velocity—the total amount of work done per sprint.
Change volume is an important DevSecOps KPI that aims to provide a seamless user experience with less disruption in an application.
A high change volume with a low failure rate indicates a successful development process.
7. Issue resolution time
Issue resolution time indicates how long it takes to identify and solve a software issue reported by the customer. In other words, this metric measures the average time it takes to fix a specific software bug.
Every business strives hard to achieve a 100% customer satisfaction rate. Solving customers' queries is one part of good service. A customer who gets an answer to their question on time will always be satisfied and happy.
8. Mean time to recovery (MTTR)
As the name suggests, the mean time to recovery is the average time required to recoup from any failure.
In other words, it is the time between a failed deployment and complete restoration. A Low MTTR number implies that the DevSecOps team can recover quickly from system failure. In contrast, a high MTTR figure represents a poor-performing team that takes much time to recover from a loss.
Implementing robust and continuous monitoring tools is recommended to identify and fix issues. The sooner you find a failure, the quicker you will be able to recover from it.
9. Time to value
Customers want the true value they've paid for products and services.
Time to value, or TTV, is a crucial metric that indicates the time between a feature request and business value realization, like software abilities and revenue.
In other words, it measures how quickly your customers get value from your products. The scope of this metric varies from business to business.
10. Defect Escape Rate
Despite having an experienced DevSecOps team, mistakes will likely happen in the software development pipeline.
You must identify and fix software defects before reaching production if you want a secure, error-free, and quicker software release. Defect escape rate is one of the best DevSecOps KPIs that tracks how often defects are discovered after a software program is in production. It evaluates the collective quality of software releases.
A higher defect escape rate indicates an issue with the testing process, so keep an eye on that.
Wrap Up
DevSecOps KPIs have become a focal point of the software development process. They have improved the quality and speed of software delivery. Moreover, they allow you to evaluate the success of DevSecOps efforts and steer your DevSecOps transformation to the next level.
Hopefully, this list of DevSecOps KPIs will give you some ideas of what to monitor and improve.