Engineering Enablement by Abi Noda cover image

The science behind DORA | Derek DeBellis (Google)

Engineering Enablement by Abi Noda

Defining and Measuring Concepts in Research

1min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Concepts in research often lack clear definitions and established survey questions. Researchers need to creatively devise ways to measure abstract concepts, such as identifying indicators and questions to capture the essence of phenomena like burnout or technical practices. This artistic aspect involves consulting experts to formulate effective survey items, even if the process may yield a large number of questions that require pre-testing before implementation.

Click here to view the episode transcript.

In this week's episode, we welcome Derek DeBellis, lead researcher on Google's DORA team, for a deep dive into the science and methodology behind DORA's research. We explore Derek's background, his role at Google, and how DORA intersects with other research disciplines. Derek takes us through DORA's research process step by step, from defining outcomes and factors to survey design, analysis, and structural equation modeling.

Mentions and Links:

Derek DeBellis on LinkedIn
DX’s guide to measuring GenAI adoption and impact
2023 Accelerate State of DevOps Report

Discussion points:

(3:00) Derek’s transition from Microsoft to the DORA team at Google
(4:28) Derek talks about his connection to surveys
(6:16) Derek’s journey to becoming a quantitative user experience researcher
(7:48) Derek simplifies DORA
(8:19) DORA - Philosophy vs practice
(11:09) Understanding desired outcomes
(12:45) Self reported outcomes vs objective outcomes
(16:16) Derek and Abi discuss the nuances of literature review
(19:57) Derek details survey development
(27:55) Pretesting issues
(29:30) Designing surveys for other companies
(35:02) Derek simplifies model analysis and validation techniques
(38:48) Benchmarks: Balancing data limitations with method sensitivity

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.

App store banner

Play store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode