KCNA Cloud Native Application Delivery Practice Question
Which DORA metric measures how quickly code changes are deployed to production?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is conflating deployment frequency (how often) with lead time for changes (how fast), causing candidates to pick the wrong DORA metric.
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
✓
Lead time for changes
Lead time for changes measures the time from code commit to code successfully running in production, directly reflecting deployment speed. It is one of the four DORA metrics and specifically captures how quickly changes flow through the pipeline.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Lead time for changes
Why this is correct
Lead time for changes measures the elapsed time from code committed to code successfully running in production, directly quantifying deployment speed. Deployment frequency counts how often releases occur, while MTTR and change failure rate address stability rather than velocity.
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Mean time to recovery (MTTR)
Why it's wrong here
MTTR measures how quickly service is restored after an incident, not how fast changes reach production. It is tempting because it is a core DORA metric and sounds deployment-related, but it belongs to stability measurement, whereas lead time for changes covers deployment speed.
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Change failure rate
Why it's wrong here
Change failure rate measures the proportion of deployments causing degradation, addressing stability rather than speed. It is tempting because it is a DORA metric tied to deployments, but it answers how often releases break, not how quickly code changes reach production.
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Deployment frequency
Why it's wrong here
Deployment frequency counts how often releases occur, not the elapsed time from commit to production. It is tempting because it is a DORA metric and correlates with speed, but it measures cadence; lead time for changes measures the duration the question asks about.
Visual reference
About these practice questions
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JA
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.