6.9.2 Adaptability measures

What this heading covers

The family is about change in context, not about a configuration option. A new operating system, a new database, a new cloud region or a changed regulatory requirement are adaptations. The measure can be the effort per adaptation, the proportion of adaptations completed without a code change, or the time to first successful operation in the new environment. The context and the starting point must be recorded, because an adaptation from a well-prepared baseline is easier than one from a tight coupling.

Record position: family 32 of 40 in clause 6, under 6.9 Flexibility, which carries 4 families. It is one of the 40 families a programme has to map its measures to, and its elements are listed below. The heading is 6.9.2 in the public contents; the text behind it is not public.

How a measure for this family is built

Take the adaptations completed within the target effort as the numerator over the adaptations attempted in the period. Alternatively, measure the time from the decision to adapt to the first successful operation. Record what changed and whether code, configuration or data carried the change.

What to put in place before publication

1. Record each adaptation and what carried it: code, configuration or data.
2. Use a real environment change, not a tabletop exercise.

Evidence to keep

Two questions to ask

• What changed in the environment or the requirement, and did code have to change?
• Was the target environment representative of production?

Where teams usually fall short

• A configuration flag described as adaptability, with no environment change tested.

What the number cannot tell you

It cannot tell you whether the new environment is representative. An adaptation to a toy environment is easier than the real one.

What happens next

Scalability is the adaptation to size. The two families share the evidence of a changed environment.