Accelerate

1. Software delivery performance drives organizational success

High performers were twice as likely to exceed these goals as low performers.

Competitive advantage. In today's digital landscape, software delivery capability provides a significant competitive edge. High-performing organizations in software delivery consistently outperform their peers across various metrics:

• Profitability
• Productivity
• Market share
• Customer satisfaction
• Operating efficiency
• Achievement of organizational goals

Measurable impact. The research shows that high performers in software delivery are twice as likely to exceed both commercial and non-commercial performance goals compared to low performers. This demonstrates the critical role of effective software delivery in driving overall organizational success across industries and sectors.

2. Measure and improve key metrics for high performance

We settled on four: delivery lead time, deployment frequency, time to restore service, and change fail rate.

Key performance indicators. To assess and improve software delivery performance, organizations should focus on four critical metrics:

• Delivery lead time: Time from code commit to production
• Deployment frequency: How often deployments occur
• Time to restore service: How quickly issues are resolved
• Change fail rate: Percentage of changes causing failures

Continuous improvement. High performers excel across all four metrics, demonstrating that there are no trade-offs between speed and stability. By tracking and optimizing these metrics, organizations can identify bottlenecks, streamline processes, and drive continuous improvement in their software delivery capabilities.

3. Cultivate a generative organizational culture

Westrum's description of a rule-oriented culture is perhaps best thought of as one where following the rules is considered more important than achieving the mission.

Culture types. Organizational culture plays a crucial role in software delivery performance. Westrum's typology identifies three cultural types:

• Pathological (power-oriented)
• Bureaucratic (rule-oriented)
• Generative (performance-oriented)

Fostering generative culture. A generative culture, characterized by high cooperation, shared risks, bridging between teams, and a focus on inquiry and learning from failures, is strongly correlated with high performance. To cultivate this culture:

• Encourage open communication and information sharing
• Prioritize mission and performance over rigid rule-following
• Create a blame-free environment that views failures as learning opportunities
• Promote cross-functional collaboration and breaking down silos

4. Implement continuous delivery practices

Continuous delivery is a set of capabilities that enable us to get changes of all kinds—features, configuration changes, bug fixes, experiments—into production or into the hands of users safely, quickly, and sustainably.

Key practices. Implementing continuous delivery (CD) is crucial for high performance. Core CD practices include:

• Version control for all production artifacts
• Automated deployment processes
• Continuous integration
• Trunk-based development
• Comprehensive test automation
• Proactive monitoring and observability

Benefits of CD. Continuous delivery practices contribute to:

• Faster time-to-market for new features
• Improved software quality and stability
• Reduced deployment pain and team burnout
• Increased employee satisfaction and productivity

5. Design loosely coupled architecture for scalability

Having a loosely coupled architecture allows your teams to work independently, without relying on other teams for support and services, which in turn enables them to work quickly and deliver value to the organization.

Architectural principles. A loosely coupled, well-encapsulated architecture enables teams to:

• Test and deploy independently
• Make changes without extensive coordination
• Scale development efforts as the organization grows

Conway's Law in reverse. Organizations should evolve their team structures to match the desired architecture, known as the "inverse Conway Maneuver." This approach:

• Reduces communication overhead
• Increases team autonomy and productivity
• Enables faster, more frequent deployments

6. Adopt Lean management principles

The use of work-in-process limits to manage the flow of work is well known in the Lean community. When used effectively, this drives process improvement, increases throughput, and makes constraints visible in the system.

Lean practices. Key Lean management principles for software delivery include:

• Limiting work in progress (WIP)
• Visualizing work and key metrics
• Using data to inform decision-making
• Implementing lightweight change approval processes

Impact on performance. Adopting these Lean practices leads to:

• Improved software delivery performance
• Enhanced organizational culture
• Reduced burnout and increased job satisfaction
• Better alignment between work and organizational goals

7. Practice transformational leadership

Being a leader doesn't mean you have people reporting to you on an organizational chart—leadership is about inspiring and motivating those around you.

Leadership dimensions. Transformational leadership comprises five key characteristics:

• Vision
• Inspirational communication
• Intellectual stimulation
• Supportive leadership
• Personal recognition

Empowering teams. Transformational leaders:

• Provide clear direction and purpose
• Encourage innovation and creative problem-solving
• Support and develop team members
• Recognize and celebrate achievements
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement

8. Prioritize employee satisfaction and diversity

Teams with more diversity with regard to gender or underrepresented minorities are smarter, achieve better team performance, and achieve better business outcomes.

Satisfaction drivers. Key factors contributing to employee satisfaction in tech roles include:

• Meaningful work with appropriate challenges
• Autonomy in tool selection and decision-making
• Opportunities for learning and growth
• Supportive team environment

Diversity benefits. Diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones. To improve diversity:

• Actively recruit and retain women and underrepresented minorities
• Create an inclusive culture that values diverse perspectives
• Address unconscious biases in hiring and promotion processes
• Provide mentorship and support for underrepresented groups

9. Integrate security throughout the development lifecycle

Our research shows that building security into software development not only improves delivery performance but also improves security quality.

Shift-left security. Integrating security early and throughout the development process:

• Reduces time spent remediating security issues
• Improves overall software quality
• Enhances delivery performance

Key practices. To effectively integrate security:

• Conduct security reviews for major features
• Include security experts in the design and demo process
• Provide pre-approved, easy-to-use security libraries and tools
• Automate security testing as part of the CI/CD pipeline

10. Embrace experimentation and learning

Our goal should be to discover how we could improve information flow so that people have better or more timely information, or to find better tools to help prevent catastrophic failures following apparently mundane operations.

Continuous learning. Foster a culture of experimentation and learning by:

• Encouraging teams to try new ideas and technologies
• Allocating time for exploration and innovation (e.g., 20% time)
• Conducting regular retrospectives and sharing lessons learned
• Celebrating both successes and failures as learning opportunities

Data-driven improvement. Use data and feedback to:

• Identify areas for improvement in processes and practices
• Make informed decisions about technology investments
• Continuously adapt and evolve your approach to software delivery

By embracing these key takeaways and implementing the associated practices, organizations can significantly improve their software delivery performance, driving better business outcomes and maintaining a competitive edge in the digital age.

Last updated: January 23, 2025