What is Change Failure Rate?
Share of deployments causing a failure in production.
How to calculate it
Calculate Change Failure Rate as: Failed deployments / Total deployments × 100. Pull the inputs from your connected data and track the trend over time in your dashboard.
Examples
Example 1
3 of 60 deploys cause an incident -> 5% change failure rate.
Example 2
3 of 60 deployments cause an incident -> 5% change failure rate, within the elite range even as deployment frequency stays high.
Why it matters
Change failure rate is the share of deployments that cause a failure in production and is a DORA measure of release stability. It balances the push for speed against the need for reliability. An inconsistent definition of 'failure' makes it hard to trust or compare.
Benchmark context
Elite teams sit at 0-15%; a rate climbing well above that suggests testing or release practices need strengthening.
Common pitfalls
Inconsistent definition of failure.
Related KPI guides
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