Essential Insights from the DevOps DORA Annual Report: Need to Know in 2025

The annual DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) report has reached its tenth year, analyzing data from nearly 3,000 professionals worldwide. The 2024 edition reveals significant shifts in how teams approach software delivery and operational performance in a rapidly evolving technology landscape.

Note: The term DORA is not related here to the Digital Operations Resilience Act!

The Changing DevOps Landscape

This year's report highlights several important trends:

• AI adoption is accelerating rapidly across development workflows
• Platform engineering is becoming essential for team productivity
• User-centric approaches continue to drive successful outcomes
• Performance metrics remain critical for measuring development effectiveness

AI in Development: Benefits and Challenges

AI has firmly established itself in the development workflow. According to the report, 81% of organizations have shifted priorities to incorporate AI more deeply into their applications and services. Notably, this echoes feedback shared in the Stack Overflow 2024 Developer survey, which indicates 79% of respondents plan to use AI tools in their development this year.

Developers now routinely use AI for:

• Writing code (74.9%)
• Summarizing information (71.2%)
• Explaining unfamiliar code
• Optimizing code quality
• Generating documentation

While many developers report productivity increases, the report also uncovers complications. AI adoption can sometimes lead to decreased software delivery performance and reduced time spent on tasks developers consider valuable.

This suggests that simply adding AI tools to your workflow isn't enough. You need to:

1. Evaluate AI's role in your development process critically
2. Maintain focus on small batch sizes
3. Prevent AI-generated code from creating larger, more complex changes
4. Create a culture that encourages experimentation with AI tools

Platform Engineering: Why Cloud Application Platforms Beat DIY Solutions

The DORA report confirms what many forward-thinking organizations already know: platform engineering significantly improves developer experience through automated, self-service workflows that abstract away delivery complexities.

While organizations using internal developer platforms (IDPs) see measurable benefits (8% higher individual productivity, 10% improved team performance), the report also reveals concerning challenges:

• Potential decreases in throughput (8%) and change stability (14%)
• Increased developer burnout when platforms aren't properly maintained
• Significant ongoing investment in platform development and maintenance
• Resources diverted from core business objectives to platform maintenance

This is precisely where cloud application platforms like Upsun offer a compelling advantage. Rather than building and maintaining your own platform—requiring months or years of development, continuous security updates, and dedicated team resources—Upsun provides an enterprise-ready solution that delivers immediate value while reducing operational burden.

With Upsun, you get:

• A thoroughly tested, continuously improved platform built by developers for developers
• Immediate access to preview environments with instant data cloning
• Multi-cloud deployment options with comprehensive observability tools
• Regular security updates and compliance certifications maintained for you
• Self-service capabilities that empower developers without requiring platform expertise

The DORA report's findings align perfectly with Upsun's core philosophy: successful platforms must prioritize a user-centered design approach, enable developer independence, and continuously evolve based on user feedback. Unlike DIY solutions that can degrade over time as resources are redirected, Upsun remains focused on platform excellence as its primary mission.

User-Centricity: The Foundation of Success

Amid technological advances, the DORA report confirms that user-centricity remains fundamental to successful DevOps practices. Organizations prioritizing end-user experience consistently deliver:

• Higher quality products
• More productive development teams
• Increased job satisfaction
• Reduced developer burnout

When you understand and address your users' needs, you can achieve quality without sacrificing stability or throughput in software delivery.

To cultivate stronger user-centricity in your organization:

1. Avoid assumptions—observe users in their environments and ask questions
2. Integrate user feedback into feature prioritization
3. Make user experience a top business priority

Additional Critical Factors

The DORA report also highlights several other important elements:

Transformational Leadership

Leaders who inspire and motivate team members significantly improve productivity, job satisfaction, and overall team performance.

Stable Priorities

Inconsistent organizational priorities decrease productivity and increase burnout—even in organizations with strong leadership and user-centric approaches.

Cloud Adoption

Flexible infrastructure increases organizational performance. However, migrating to the cloud without embracing its flexibility may be more harmful than remaining in a data center.

Moving Forward Together

The DORA report provides valuable insights into the evolving DevOps landscape. While AI and platform engineering offer tremendous potential, they require thoughtful implementation. 

By focusing on continuous improvement and fostering collaboration, you can build high-performing teams that deliver exceptional value to your customers.

Take Your Next Steps

Ready to apply these insights to your development processes? Create a free Upsun account and discover how our platform can help you implement these best practices while maintaining developer flexibility and control.

Want to discuss DORA findings with an expert? Contact our team for a personalized consultation.