14 - Why Use a Survey

Описание: This chapter addresses a practical question: if we can already instrument systems and capture telemetry, why use surveys? The authors explain that even with good system data, measuring the entire delivery chain end-to-end is difficult and slow, and often leaves out key variables related to people and organization.

System telemetry captures what happens in production—deployment frequency, lead time, error rates—but it has limitations. First, instrumenting the full value stream from ideation through deployment to customer impact requires integrating data from many disconnected tools (planning systems, version control, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, customer analytics). Many organizations lack this integration or the maturity to trust the data. Second, even perfect telemetry cannot capture human experiences, perceptions, or organizational dynamics that profoundly influence outcomes.

Surveys enable collecting and analyzing data quickly, at reasonable cost, and with broad reach. They make it possible to measure things that don't appear directly in logs—perceptions of culture, deployment pain, burnout, psychological safety, team autonomy. These human factors are not "soft" or secondary; research shows they significantly predict software delivery performance and business outcomes.

The chapter connects to psychometrics from the previous chapter to justify that well-designed surveys are a reliable and complementary source for understanding and improving performance. Surveys are not a replacement for system instrumentation but a powerful complement. Together, telemetry and survey data provide a more complete picture: telemetry reveals what is happening, surveys reveal why it's happening and how people experience it.

The State of DevOps research combines both approaches: quantitative survey data from thousands of organizations supplemented by telemetry analysis and qualitative case studies. This triangulation strengthens conclusions and provides actionable insights that neither approach could deliver alone.