AI is transforming how engineering teams approach velocity, security, and resilience in the software delivery lifecycle. Harness’s updated Engineering Excellence Maturity Assessment helps organizations benchmark their DevOps readiness and identify targeted areas for improvement.
Before the AI boom, engineering leaders faced unprecedented challenges in improving software delivery speeds while ensuring security, quality, and compliance. With AI usage growing exponentially, monitoring the internal productivity and external vulnerabilities that come with it adds a new layer of complexity. With that said, understanding how rugged your DevOps processes are has never been more critical, which is why we're excited to announce our completely refreshed Engineering Excellence Maturity Assessment.
Why We've Updated Our Assessment
Beyond the rise of AI-powered development tools, increased regulatory requirements, and evolving development environments have transformed how engineering teams operate. Our previous assessment model, while comprehensive, needed to reflect these changes to provide engineering leaders with actionable insights aligned with current best practices.
The most significant improvement in our refreshed assessment is aligning the maturity model with the natural flow of the SDLC. The new structure, broken into four sections, begins with Velocity, where we assess how streamlined your design, code, build and delivery processes are. The next area is Resilience, which evaluates functional testing, feature experimentation, and incident preparation/response.
The third area of the framework entitled Security & Governance, measures your approaches to identifying vulnerabilities across the software supply chain. We then conclude with Optimization, analyzing how your DevOps practices impact your bottom line - both in terms of productivity and cloud usage. This logical structure makes it easier for your organization to identify specific areas for improvement.
Other Notable Changes to the Maturity Model
Perhaps the most timely addition to our assessment is a comprehensive section on AI’s integration within the DevOps lifecycle. While AI tools promise significant productivity gains, their implementation requires thoughtful governance and clear guidelines.
Our refreshed assessment now includes specific questions about development environments, workflows, and infrastructure-as-code practices for environment parity. We also examine developer experience and environment provisioning, providing you with a more accurate picture of your organization's development capabilities.
Lastly, efforts to mitigate cyber threats like NIS2 and the DORA framework require that security can no longer be an afterthought or a final gate in the delivery process. With that said, our updated assessment evaluates how well you’re integrating security at every phase of the SDLC. Improving your overall security posture is especially crucial if you’re facing increasing regulatory scrutiny of your software delivery practices.
Discover Your Engineering Excellence Score
Whether your DevOps transformation is just starting, or you’re looking to refine an already mature practice, our assessment will provide valuable insights as each area includes industry benchmarks to compare against your peers. We also provide recommended practices for evolving your DevOps practices and highlight common pitfalls when implementing improvements.
This practical approach ensures you can translate assessment results into tangible improvements that deliver business value. In just 30 minutes, you’ll have tailored objectives to help enhance your software delivery prowess.
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I’m a passionate speaker and thought leader with over 30 years of experience in software development, architecture, and delivery. With a deep focus on DevOps, DevSecOps, and Developer Experience (DevEx), I’m a trusted voice in the tech community, featured in outlets like The NewStack, BeatNews, and LeadDev. Career highlights include leading cloud migration at Advanced, establishing their first DevOps team, and scaling DevOps practices across the organisation. I’ve dedicated my career to transforming how organisations approach software delivery by fostering a culture of collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement. As a speaker, I focus on driving DevOps transformation, implementing DevSecOps strategies, and optimising the developer experience. My work emphasises building high-performing, secure, and scalable systems, while promoting a culture of blameless accountability. Drawing from a wealth of cross-sector experience, I offer practical, actionable insights on scaling DevOps practices, integrating security throughout the software lifecycle, and creating developer-friendly environments without compromising governance. My goal is to inspire organisations to rethink their approach to software delivery and evolve their DevOps, DevSecOps, and DevEx practices for the future.
