Lead Time for Changes
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
Lead Time for Changes measures how long it takes from code commit to production deployment. Elite teams: less than an hour. Slow teams: weeks or months. If it takes a week to deploy a one-line fix, your pipeline needs work. This metric reveals everything wrong with your delivery process.
Real Talk
Lead time for changes is a DORA metric measuring the time between code commit and successful production deployment. It encompasses code review, CI/CD pipeline execution, approval processes, and deployment. Elite performers achieve less than one hour; low performers take between one to six months.
When You'll Hear This
"Our lead time dropped from 3 days to 2 hours after automating the deployment approval." / "Lead time for changes includes review time — slow code reviews kill your velocity."
Related Terms
Continuous Delivery
Continuous Delivery means your code is always packed up and ready to ship — like a pizza that's fully cooked and sitting in a warm box.
Deployment Frequency
Deployment Frequency is how often you ship to production. Elite teams: multiple times per day.
DORA Metrics
DORA Metrics are four numbers that measure how well your team delivers software: how often you deploy, how fast code goes from commit to production, how of...