KCNA Cloud Native Application Delivery Practice Question
According to DORA metrics, which metric measures the percentage of deployments that fail in production?
⚠ Common exam trap
KCNA often tests the confusion between Change Failure Rate and Mean Time to Restore, as both relate to failures but measure different aspects: CFR measures the frequency of failures, while MTTR measures the duration to recover.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
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Change Failure Rate
Change Failure Rate (CFR) is the DORA metric that directly measures the percentage of deployments that result in a failure in production, such as a service outage or a bug requiring a hotfix. It is calculated as (number of failed deployments / total deployments) * 100. This metric reflects the quality and stability of the software delivery process, complementing speed metrics like Deployment Frequency and Lead Time for Changes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Change Failure Rate
Why this is correct
Change Failure Rate measures the proportion of deployments to production that result in degraded service and require remediation, expressed as a percentage. It directly satisfies the metric definition requested, unlike deployment frequency, lead time for changes or mean time to restore.
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Mean Time to Restore (MTTR)
Why it's wrong here
MTTR measures how long recovery takes after an incident, expressed in time, not the proportion of deployments that fail. It would be correct if the question asked how quickly service is restored following a failed release, rather than the failure rate itself.
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Deployment Frequency
Why it's wrong here
Deployment Frequency counts how often releases reach production, a throughput measure. It would be correct for a question about release cadence, but it says nothing about the proportion of those deployments that subsequently fail in production.
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Lead Time for Changes
Why it's wrong here
Lead Time for Changes measures elapsed time from code commit to production deployment, a duration metric. It answers how long delivery takes, not what percentage of releases fail, so it would fit a question about delivery speed rather than deployment failure rate.
Visual reference
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CNCF exam blueprint
This KCNA practice question is part of Courseiva's free CNCF certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the KCNA exam.