Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)

The average time it takes to restore service after a production incident.

What is Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)?

MTTR is often a better indicator of system resilience than incident count. Fast recovery implies good observability, clear ownership, and safe rollback paths — all of which are architecture decisions more than operational heroics.

Also known as: mttr.

Related terms

  • DORA Metrics — Four widely used engineering performance metrics: Deployment Frequency, Lead Time for Changes, Change Failure Rate, and Mean Time to Recovery.
  • Change Failure Rate — The percentage of deployments that cause a degradation in production and require remediation.