CTO Toolkit
DORA Review Template
A structured template for reviewing deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate and MTTR.
How to use this
Run as a 45–60 minute conversation with engineering leads. Treat metrics as signals that open questions — never as individual scorecards.
Before the review
- Agree the value stream or product boundary under discussion
- Pull the last period’s four DORA signals with definitions attached
- Bring 2–3 incidents or escaped defects as narrative context
- Invite product and platform partners when their constraints dominate
Questions for each DORA signal
- Deployment Frequency — What actually blocks shipping more often that customers would benefit from?
- Lead Time — Where does work wait longest: clarification, review, test, release or approval?
- Change Failure Rate — Which failure modes are recurring, and are they architecture, process or skill gaps?
- MTTR — Do we detect fast, diagnose fast, and restore safely — or only one of the three?
Decision frame
- What is the constraint behind the signal — not the vanity improvement?
- What will we change in the system (architecture, workflow, ownership)?
- What will we stop doing to make room?
- How will we know in 30–60 days that the constraint moved?
Anti-patterns to avoid
- Ranking teams against each other on DORA alone
- Setting numeric targets that invite gaming
- Ignoring customer outcome when delivery looks “fast”
- Treating MTTR as a heroics metric instead of a design problem
This is an original, generic framework for reuse. It is not proprietary employer material.