We all want our teams to move faster and deliver more value to customers, but measuring and improving product velocity can be a complex challenge. Enter Core 4, a new framework that aims to simplify this process and help teams achieve sustainable success.

Laura Tacho has written a great article on the Core 4 framework for measuring developers and product teams. I encourage you to read the whole thing but here are my key takeaways from the piece.

• It unifies existing frameworks. Core 4 brings together the best of DORA, SPACE, and DevEx, providing a comprehensive and practical approach to product velocity.
• It focuses on four key dimensions:
  • Speed: Measured by PRs merged per engineer per week.
  • Effectiveness: Assessed through a developer experience index (DXI) survey.
  • Quality: Evaluated through metrics like unplanned work and production incidents.
  • Impact: Measured by time spent on new capabilities versus maintenance.
• It’s data-driven and actionable. Core 4 relies on both quantitative and qualitative data, providing insights into not just what is happening, but also why. This allows teams to make informed decisions about where to focus their improvement efforts.
• It links efficiency to business impact. By quantifying the benefits of developer productivity improvements, Core 4 helps teams justify investments and demonstrate the value of their work.

The Bottom Line: Core 4 offers a powerful framework for teams to measure, improve, and communicate about product velocity. By aligning teams, encouraging data-driven decision-making, and linking efficiency to business impact, Core 4 can help organizations achieve sustainable success in today’s fast-paced software development landscape.