How to measure and improve developer productivity | Nicole Forsgren (Microsoft Research, GitHub, Google)

This episode is brought to you by DX —a platform for measuring and improving developer productivity. — Dr. Nicole Forsgren is a developer productivity and DevOps expert who works with engineering organizations to make work better. Best known as co-author of the Shingo Publication Award-winning book Accelerate and the DevOps Handbook, 2nd edition and author of the State of DevOps Reports , she has helped some of the biggest companies in the world transform their culture, processes, tech, and architecture. Nicole is currently a Partner at Microsoft Research, leading developer productivity research and strategy, and a technical founder/CEO with a successful exit to Google . In a previous life, she was a software engineer, sysadmin, hardware performance engineer, and professor. She has published several peer-reviewed journal papers, has been awarded public and private research grants (funders include NASA and the NSF), and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal , Forbes , Computerworld , and InformationWeek. In today’s podcast, we discuss: • Two frameworks for measuring developer productivity: DORA and SPACE • Benchmarks for what good and great look like • Common mistakes to avoid when measuring developer productivity • Resources and tools for improving your metrics • Signs your developer experience needs attention • How to improve your developer experience • Nicole’s Four-Box framework for thinking about data and relationships — Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-measure-and-improve-developer — Where to find Nicole Forsgren: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicolefv • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolefv/ • Website: https://nicolefv.com/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Nicole’s background (07:55) Unpacking the terms “developer productivity,” “developer experience,” and “DevOps” (10:06) How to move faster and improve practices across the board (13:43) The DORA framework (18:54) Benchmarks for success (22:33) Why company size doesn’t matter (24:54) How to improve DevOps capabilities by working backward (29:23) The SPACE framework and choosing metrics (32:51) How SPACE and DORA work together (35:39) Measuring satisfaction (37:52) Resources and tools for optimizing metrics (41:29) Nicole’s current book project (45:43) Common pitfalls companies run into when rolling out developer productivity/optimizations (47:42) How the DevOps space has progressed (50:07) The impact of AI on the developer experience and productivity (54:04) First steps to take if you’re trying to improve the developer experience (55:15) Why Google is an example of a company implementing DevOps solutions well (56:11) The importance of clear communication (57:32) Nicole’s Four-Box framework (1:05:15) Advice on making decisions (1:08:56) Lightning round — Referenced: • Chef: https://www.chef.io/ • DORA: https://dora.dev/ • GitHub: https://github.com/ • Microsoft Research: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/ • What is DORA?: https://devops.com/what-is-dora-and-why-you-should-care/ • Dustin Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustin-smith-b0525458/ • Nathen Harvey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathen/ • What is CI/CD?: https://about.gitlab.com/topics/ci-cd/ • Trunk-based development: https://cloud.google.com/architecture/devops/devops-tech-trunk-based-development • DORA DevOps Quick Check: https://dora.dev/quickcheck/ • Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations : https://www.amazon.com/Accelerate-Software-Performing-Technology-Organizations/dp/1942788339 • The SPACE of Developer Productivity: https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3454124 • DevOps Metrics: Nicole Forsgren and Mik Kersten: https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3182626 • How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business: https://www.amazon.com/How-Measure-Anything-Intangibles-Business/dp/1118539273/ • GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot • Tabnine: https://www.tabnine.com/the-leading-ai-assistant-for-software-development • Nicole’s Decision-Making Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wItAODkhZ-zKnnFbyDERCd8Hq2NQ03WPvCfigBQ5vpc/edit?usp=sharing • How to do linear regression and correlation analysis: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/linear-regression-and-correlation-analysis • Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters : https://www.amazon.com/Good-Strategy-Bad-difference-matters/dp/1781256179/ • Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life : https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Your-Life-Well-Lived-Joyful/dp/1101875321 • Ender’s Game : https://www.amazon.com/Enders-Game-Ender-Quintet-1/dp/1250773024/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 • Suits on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/70195800 • Ted Lasso on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso • Never Have I Ever on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80179190 • Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/ • COSRX face masks: https://www.amazon.com/COSRX-Advanced-Secretion-Hydrating-Moisturizing/dp/B08JSL9W6K/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . 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