Understand the Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) Metric Template

The MTTR metric template provides the average time it takes for an issue with an “incident” label from open to close.

What Good Looks Like for Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)?

Elite performers observe an MTTR below 1H according to the DORA metrics scale. High performers solve incidents in production in less than a day, while medium performers can see an MTTR of up to 1 week. Low performers reach over 1 week for this metric.

How to Improve Your Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) Metric

• Report incidents immediately after they occur to ensure reporting accuracy.
• Report on the incident's characteristics, the root cause, and the resolution steps in detail. Training and post-mortem analysis should be carried out using these reports.
• Provide standard operations procedures and well-known issues in a handbook for operations. The handbook should be reviewed and tested on a regular basis (e.g., annually).
• Provide operations teams with efficient investigation tools and logs. Enhance production access by adapting and streamlining the process.
• Fast-track escalation by adapting your internal processes. Operations teams should be able to easily reach subject matter experts without having to go through lengthy approval processes.
• Provide rapid failover capabilities for backup systems. Database failover instances and point-in-time backups, for example.