Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

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

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Jul 30, 2023

Nicole Forsgren, a developer productivity and DevOps expert currently at Microsoft Research, digs into the intricacies of measuring developer productivity. She discusses frameworks like DORA and SPACE, shedding light on the benchmarks of excellence and frequent pitfalls to avoid. Nicole emphasizes the importance of a healthy developer experience, and her Four-Box framework provides a unique approach to analyzing data relationships. Listeners can expect actionable strategies to enhance team culture and productivity, all while embracing the evolving tech landscape.

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INSIGHT

Speed and Stability

Speed and stability in software development move together.
Pushing smaller changes more frequently leads to increased stability and faster recovery times.

ADVICE

Focus on Progress

Focus on understanding your team's current performance and making progress.
Aiming for specific benchmarks, like "elite" or "high," is less important than continuous improvement.

ANECDOTE

Retail Apocalypse

Nicole Forsgren observed no performance difference between large and small companies in her research.
The only outlier was the retail industry, which performed better due to the "retail apocalypse."

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