Lead Time For Changes (LTC)

Lead Time For Changes Metric Definition

The interval between a code change and its release to the end users is considered Lead Time For Changes.

Lead Time For Changes Formula

Lead Time For Changes = [Production Deployment Time] - [First Commit Time of all changes]

The Anatomy of the Lead Time and Lead Time For Changes

The image below represents the Lead Time metric's anatomy that covers the Lead Time For Changes metric.

Lead Time Breakdown

The Stages of the Lead Time For Changes

The Lead Time For Changes measures friction in the coding, code review, and CI/CD processes.

1. Coding Time: The time elapsed between the First commit and the PR opened.

2. Code Review Time: The time elapsed between the PR opened and the PR merged.

3. Waiting For Deploy: The time elapsed between the PR merged and the Deployment pipeline started.

4. Deployment Time: The time elapsed between the Deployment started and Deployment finished successfully.

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BLOG POST - How To Reduce Lead Time For Changes (Optimizing DORA Metrics)

In this article, we will take a closer look at one of DORA Metrics, Lead Time For Changes (Change Lead Time), and how it can be reduced to optimize software development and delivery processes.