Dev Team Capability & Maturity Assessment

Instructions

This survey assesses your development team’s capabilities across technical, process, and cultural dimensions based on the DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) framework. Please answer honestly based on your current state, not aspirational goals.

Rating Scale:

  • 1 - Not Implemented: We don’t do this at all
  • 2 - Ad Hoc: We do this inconsistently or only in some cases
  • 3 - Developing: We do this regularly but it’s not fully mature
  • 4 - Mature: We do this consistently with good practices
  • 5 - Optimizing: We do this excellently and continuously improve

Section A: Technical Capabilities

A1. Version Control & Code Management

How effectively does your team manage code and changes?
📚 References: Git Best Practices | Conventional Commits

  1. Version Control Usage - All production code is stored in version control with meaningful commit messages

  2. Trunk-Based Development - Teams work on shared branches with short-lived feature branches (< 1 day)

  3. Code Review Process - All changes go through peer review before merging

A2. Continuous Integration (CI)

How well does your team integrate and validate code changes?
📚 References: Martin Fowler on CI | DORA on CI

  1. Automated Build Process - Code changes trigger automated builds without manual intervention

  2. Build Speed - Build and basic test suite completes in under 10 minutes

  3. Build Reliability - Builds fail only due to legitimate issues, not infrastructure problems

A3. Test Automation

How comprehensive and effective is your automated testing?
📚 References: Test Pyramid | DORA on Test Automation

  1. Unit Test Coverage - Adequate unit test coverage for critical business logic

  2. Integration Testing - Automated tests verify component interactions

  3. Test Data Management - Reliable, maintainable test data and environments

A4. Continuous Delivery (CD)

How effectively can your team deploy software?
📚 References: Continuous Delivery Book | DORA on Deployment Automation

  1. Deployment Automation - Deployments are largely automated with minimal manual steps

  2. Environment Consistency - Development, staging, and production environments are consistent

  3. Deployment Frequency - Team can deploy to production on-demand (daily or more frequently)

A5. Architecture & Design

How well-designed and maintainable is your system architecture?
📚 References: Microservices Patterns | DORA on Architecture

  1. Loosely Coupled Architecture - Services/components can be developed and deployed independently

  2. Code Maintainability - Code is clean, well-documented, and easy to modify

  3. Technical Debt Management - Team regularly addresses technical debt and refactoring

Section B: Process & Measurement Capabilities

B1. Lean Product Management

How effectively does your team manage product development?
📚 References: Lean Startup | DORA on Lean Product Management

  1. Customer Feedback Integration - Regular collection and incorporation of user feedback

  2. Work Visibility - Clear visibility into work in progress and priorities

  3. Small Batch Sizes - Work is broken down into small, deliverable increments

B2. Monitoring & Observability

How well can your team understand system behavior and performance?
📚 References: Observability Engineering | DORA on Monitoring

  1. Application Monitoring - Comprehensive monitoring of application performance and health

  2. Log Management - Centralized, searchable logging across systems

  3. Alerting & Incident Response - Effective alerting that minimizes false positives

B3. Performance Measurement

How well does your team measure and track key metrics?
📚 References: Accelerate Book | DORA Research

  1. DORA Metrics Tracking - Team measures deployment frequency, lead time, MTTR, and change failure rate

  2. Business Metrics - Development work is tied to measurable business outcomes

  3. Retrospectives & Improvement - Regular retrospectives lead to concrete process improvements

Section C: Cultural Capabilities

C1. Team Culture & Collaboration

How effectively does your team work together?
📚 References: Psychological Safety | DORA on Culture

  1. Psychological Safety - Team members feel safe to speak up, ask questions, and admit mistakes

  2. Cross-Functional Collaboration - Development, QA, and operations work closely together

  3. Knowledge Sharing - Team actively shares knowledge and avoids silos

C2. Learning & Innovation

How well does your team learn and adapt?
📚 References: Learning Organization | DORA on Learning Culture

  1. Continuous Learning - Team members regularly learn new skills and technologies

  2. Experimentation - Team is encouraged to try new approaches and learn from failures

  3. Time for Innovation - Team has dedicated time for learning, experimentation, and improvement

C3. Organizational Support

How well does the organization support effective software delivery?
📚 References: Accelerate Book | DORA on Transformational Leadership

  1. Leadership Support - Leadership actively supports DevOps practices and cultural change

  2. Resource Allocation - Team has adequate resources (time, tools, training) to do their job well

  3. Change Management - Organization handles change effectively with clear communication

Section D: Current State Assessment

Team Information

  • Team Name: _______________
  • Team Size: _______________
  • Primary Technology Stack: _______________
  • Average Tenure on Team: _______________

Section K: Service Portfolio & Architecture

Current Service Landscape

Describe your team’s current service portfolio and codebase structure

Repository Management:

  • Total number of repositories your team owns/maintains: _______________
  • Active repositories (updated in last 6 months): _______________
  • Legacy/dormant repositories: _______________
  • Monorepo vs Multi-repo approach: _______________

Deployable Artifacts:

  • Total number of deployable services/applications: _______________
  • Microservices count: _______________
  • Monolithic applications count: _______________
  • Batch jobs/scheduled processes: _______________
  • Shared libraries/packages: _______________
  • Database schemas managed: _______________

Service Types: (Check all that apply)

  • Web applications (frontend)
  • REST APIs/Web services
  • GraphQL APIs
  • Message/event processors
  • Background workers/job processors
  • Data pipelines/ETL processes
  • Machine learning models/services
  • Static sites/documentation
  • Mobile app backends
  • Integration/middleware services
  • Other: _______________

Technology Diversity:

  • Programming languages in use: _______________
  • Database technologies: _______________
  • Messaging/queue systems: _______________
  • External service dependencies: _______________

Section L: Deployment Process Deep Dive

Current Deployment Reality

Walk us through exactly how deployments work today

Deployment Frequency by Environment:

  • Development/Feature environments: _______________ (times per day/week)
  • Staging/Testing environments: _______________ (times per day/week)
  • Production environments: _______________ (times per day/week)

Deployment Process Steps: Please describe the actual steps a developer follows to deploy something new or modified to production:

Step 1: _______________

Step 2: _______________

Step 3: _______________

Step 4: _______________

Step 5: _______________

Continue numbering as needed…

Deployment Characteristics:

  • Typical deployment duration: _______________
  • Rollback time if needed: _______________
  • Number of people required for production deployment: _______________
  • Time of day restrictions for deployments: _______________
  • Deployment approval requirements: _______________

Deployment Automation Level:

  • Fully automated (zero-touch): ____ % of deployments
  • Semi-automated (some manual steps): ____ % of deployments
  • Mostly manual: ____ % of deployments
  • Completely manual: ____ % of deployments

Environment Promotion: How do changes move through environments?

  • Automatic promotion after successful tests
  • Manual promotion with approval gates
  • Scheduled batch promotions
  • Ad-hoc promotion as needed
  • Other: _______________

Deployment Challenges: What are the biggest pain points in your current deployment process?

Database Changes: How are database schema changes handled?

  • Process: _______________
  • Tools used: _______________
  • Coordination required: _______________

Configuration Management: How are configuration changes deployed?

  • Process: _______________
  • Environment-specific configs: _______________
  • Secret/credential updates: _______________

Monitoring Deployment Success: How do you know a deployment was successful?

  • Automated health checks: _______________
  • Manual verification steps: _______________
  • Rollback triggers: _______________

Section M: Service Dependencies & Integration

Dependency Mapping

Understanding your service ecosystem

Internal Dependencies:

  • Services your team depends on (from other teams): _______________
  • Services that depend on yours: _______________
  • Shared databases/resources: _______________

External Dependencies:

  • Third-party APIs/services: _______________
  • Cloud service dependencies: _______________
  • On-premise system integrations: _______________

Dependency Management:

  • How do you handle breaking changes from dependencies?: _______________
  • Service contract/API versioning strategy: _______________
  • Dependency update frequency: _______________

Data Flow:

  • Primary data sources: _______________
  • Data destinations/consumers: _______________
  • Real-time vs batch processing: _______________

Section N: Operational Complexity

Day-to-Day Operations

Understanding the operational overhead

Support & Maintenance:

  • On-call rotation requirements: _______________
  • Average incidents per month: _______________
  • Most common incident types: _______________

Environment Management:

  • Number of environments maintained: _______________
  • Environment provisioning time: _______________
  • Environment cost (if known): _______________

Release Coordination:

  • Cross-team coordination required: _______________
  • Release planning lead time: _______________
  • Communication overhead: _______________

Technical Debt Impact:

  • Time spent on maintenance vs new features: ____% maintenance / ____% new features
  • Legacy system maintenance burden: _______________
  • Modernization/refactoring priorities: _______________

Current Performance Metrics

Please provide approximate values if known:

  • Deployment Frequency: _______________
  • Lead Time for Changes: _______________
  • Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR): _______________
  • Change Failure Rate: _______________%

Biggest Challenges

What are the top 3 challenges your team faces in software delivery?

Improvement Priorities

What are the top 3 areas your team most wants to improve?

Section E: Security & Compliance Capabilities

E1. Security Integration

How well is security integrated into your development process?
📚 References: DevSecOps | OWASP DevSecOps Guideline

  1. Security by Design - Security considerations are integrated from the beginning of development

  2. Automated Security Testing - Security testing is automated and integrated into CI/CD pipeline

  3. Vulnerability Management - Regular scanning and timely remediation of security vulnerabilities

  4. Secrets Management - Proper handling and storage of API keys, passwords, and certificates

E2. Compliance & Governance

How well does your team manage compliance and governance requirements?
📚 References: IT Compliance | Privacy by Design

  1. Regulatory Compliance - Team understands and implements required compliance standards (GDPR, SOX, etc.)

  2. Audit Trail - Changes and deployments are properly logged and auditable

  3. Data Privacy - Personal and sensitive data is properly protected and handled

Section F: Sustainability & Efficiency

F1. Environmental Sustainability

How environmentally conscious is your software development?
📚 References: Green Software Foundation | Sustainable Software Engineering

  1. Resource Efficiency - Code and infrastructure are optimized for energy efficiency

  2. Sustainable Architecture - System design considers environmental impact and resource usage

  3. Green Computing Practices - Team considers carbon footprint in technology decisions

F2. Developer Experience & Productivity

How optimized is the developer experience?
📚 References: Developer Experience | SPACE Framework

  1. Developer Tooling - Developers have efficient, modern tools that support productivity

  2. Local Development Environment - Easy setup and maintenance of local development environments

  3. Documentation Quality - Code, APIs, and processes are well-documented and accessible

Section G: Platform Engineering & Infrastructure

G1. Platform Capabilities

How mature is your platform and infrastructure management?

  1. Infrastructure as Code - Infrastructure is defined, versioned, and managed as code

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  2. Container/Cloud Native - Applications are designed for modern deployment platforms

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  3. Self-Service Capabilities - Developers can provision resources and environments independently

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  4. Platform Reliability - Internal platforms and shared services have high availability

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

G2. Data & Analytics

How well does your team manage and leverage data?

  1. Data Quality - Data used by applications is accurate, consistent, and reliable

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  2. Analytics Integration - Applications properly instrument and expose business metrics

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  3. Data Governance - Clear policies and processes for data access and usage

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

Section H: Advanced Team Dynamics

H1. Cognitive Load Management

How well does your team manage complexity and cognitive load?

  1. Complexity Management - Team actively works to reduce unnecessary complexity

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  2. Context Switching - Developers can focus on tasks without excessive interruptions

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  3. Team Topology - Team structure and responsibilities are clear and well-defined

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

H2. External Collaboration

How effectively does your team collaborate externally?

  1. Cross-Team Dependencies - Dependencies on other teams are well-managed and minimized

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  2. Stakeholder Communication - Regular, effective communication with business stakeholders

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  3. Vendor/Third-Party Management - Effective management of external dependencies and services

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

Section I: Emerging Technology & Innovation

I1. AI/ML Integration

How well is your team positioned for AI/ML integration?

  1. AI/ML Readiness - Team understands and can implement AI/ML solutions where appropriate

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  2. Data for AI - Data infrastructure supports AI/ML workloads and experimentation

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  3. AI Ethics & Governance - Team considers ethical implications of AI implementations

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

I2. Future-Proofing

How prepared is your team for future technological changes?

  1. Technology Radar - Team actively monitors and evaluates emerging technologies

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  2. Adaptability - Team can quickly adapt to new technologies and changing requirements

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

  3. Innovation Time - Team has dedicated time for exploring new technologies and approaches

    • Rating: ___/5
    • Comments: _______________

Section J: Additional Context

Tools & Technology

List the primary tools your team uses:

  • Version Control: _______________
  • CI/CD Platform: _______________
  • Testing Frameworks: _______________
  • Monitoring/Observability: _______________
  • Project Management: _______________
  • Communication: _______________

Organizational Context

  • Industry/Domain: _______________
  • Regulatory Requirements: _______________
  • Team Model (Product team, feature team, etc.): _______________
  • Reporting Structure: _______________

Scoring Guide

Capability Maturity Levels

Score Range | Maturity Level | Description

  • 33-66: Foundational - Basic practices in place, significant room for improvement
  • 67-99: Developing - Good practices emerging, some areas still need work
  • 100-132: Mature - Solid practices across most areas, continuous improvement happening
  • 133-165: Advanced - Excellent practices, serving as model for others

Next Steps

Based on your scores, consider:

  1. Focus Areas: Lowest-scoring sections indicate priority improvement areas
  2. Quick Wins: Look for capabilities rated 2-3 that could quickly move to 4
  3. Strategic Investments: Consider longer-term improvements for foundational capabilities
  4. Cultural Barriers: Address organizational and cultural impediments to technical improvements

This survey is based on the DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) capabilities framework and research. For more information, visit dora.dev