Deploy Time Metric

Definition

Deploy Time measures the time from when a branch or pull request (PR) is merged until it is deployed to production.

This reflects how quickly merged code reaches a production environment.

Calculation

• Branch merged with a PR: Deploy Time = Release Published At - PR Merged At
• Branch merged without a PR: Deploy Time = Release Published At - Branch Merged At

Where:

• PR Merged At / Branch Merged At = merge timestamp
• Release Published At = deployment timestamp

Data Sources

Deploy Time is derived from:

• Repository merge events
• Deployment logs
• Release publishing events

Dashboard Behavior

On the Metrics Dashboard:

• The headline value reflects the selected statistic (e.g., P75) for the selected date range and filters.
• The trend chart shows Deploy Time over time.
• The tooltip displays the value for the selected time bucket.

Deploy Time is only calculated when a valid deployment event is detected.

Why This Metric Matters

Deploy Time highlights:

• CI/CD pipeline efficiency
• Release automation maturity
• Time from merge to production impact

Reducing Deploy Time improves delivery speed and shortens feedback loops.

Benchmarking Guidance

• Efficient teams deploy within hours of merge.
• Long Deploy Time often indicates manual steps or pipeline bottlenecks.

Limitations

• Manual deployments or inconsistent logging may result in missing or inaccurate values.
• The definition of “deployment” (staging vs. production) affects interpretation.
• If no deployment is detected, Deploy Time is not calculated.

Stakeholder Use Cases

DevOps

• Optimize CI/CD performance.
• Reduce post-merge latency.

Engineering Managers

• Monitor merge-to-production speed.
• Identify systemic release bottlenecks.