Developer experience and quality are increasingly shaped by the metrics of DORA and SPACE, frameworks that consider both performance and team dynamics in software delivery. Real-world practices show that teams benefit from using small, targeted experiments to improve lead time, deployment frequency, recovery speed, and change failure rates. The challenge lies in translating these measurements into meaningful process changes while balancing risk and value for the business.
In this episode, I talk with Martijn Goossens about DevEx, DORA, and how we put the Q into developer experience. We walk through the four DORA metrics and where testers make real impact with CI, smart coverage, and fast feedback. Martijn shares a simple fix that unlocked speed: give each team a test environment. We explore coaching with small experiments, clear metrics, and regular check ins. Start with the State of DevOps report. Map your QA work to these metrics. Speak value, stay visible, and grow with your team and community.
"If you only rely on very slow UI tests, you can do parallel testing all you want, but it's never going to be as fast without a test environment spinning up then all the unit tests that you could have written and run in that same time." - Martijn Goossens
Martijn Goossens has over 20 years of experience in the QA field. He started as an Agile QA automation engineer and has fulfilled various QA leadership roles for the past 8 years. Martijn is ISTQB and TMAP certified and is a frequent participant in QA meetups and conferences. In recent years he found the international conference stages where he is keen to share his experiences from the trenches.
At the recent HUSTEF Conference in Budapest, Richie, host of Software Testing Unleashed, sat down with Martijn Goossens —a seasoned QA expert and community advocate—to discuss bridging the world of software quality with developer experience (DevEx). Their conversation unpacked how the often-hyped DORA and SPACE metrics can be transformed into practical tools for improving both developer happiness and the quality of software releases.
The notion of developer experience (DevEx) isn’t new, but its ripple effect on software quality can often be overlooked. As Martijn Goossens explained, DevEx as a concept took root around 2012, paralleling the rise of UX for end users. The big question: “How does the experience within our teams impact the software we build?”
DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) and SPACE (a framework from Microsoft and other collaborators) provide the metrics to answer this. DORA focuses on software delivery performance, while SPACE broadens the lens to include developers’ well-being, support, and agency.
In Martijn Goossens ’s words, “We people can support this process” by bringing testing and QA closer to the DevEx story. Quality isn’t just about catching bugs—it’s about helping developers work smarter, safer, and faster.
DORA metrics, now championed in Google’s yearly State of DevOps reports, give teams visibility into four key areas:
Deployment Frequency: How often do you release changes?
Lead Time for Changes: How quickly can an idea become a production-ready update?
Change Failure Rate: How many releases require a fix?
Mean Time to Recovery: How fast can you restore service after an incident?
SPACE complements this by focusing on:
Satisfaction and Well-being
Performance
Activity
Communication and Collaboration
Efficiency and Flow
As Martijn Goossens highlighted, the most tangible impact for testers is around DORA’s change failure rate—“If we do a good job, we find all the bugs… typically not, because we don’t test everything. But the highest risk is not necessarily the value that your company sees.”
Metrics are only meaningful if teams understand their real-world implications. As Martijn Goossens described, his role as a DevEx coach was about more than just measurement—it was about asking, “What’s troubling you? What’s hurting you?” and co-creating experiments with development teams.
One real win came from something as simple as introducing personal test environments. Previously, multiple teams shared a single acceptance environment, leading to bottlenecks and finger-pointing when things broke. Allowing teams to test in isolation sped up their process and improved their confidence.
The key takeaway: Start with small, achievable changes. Track their impact, and give teams space to adapt. “If a whole team is complaining about all the things you need to drill down on, but what change would make the most impact for you now?” said Martijn Goossens .
Change is hard—teams revert to old habits the moment external support ends. That’s why the approach matters just as much as the metrics themselves. Martijn Goossens emphasized the value of goodwill: “With a positive mindset, but also a helping mindset,” teams are more likely to embrace experiments.
Regular check-ins and retrospectives help cement improvements. Sometimes, an experiment fails. That’s part of the journey—what matters is learning, iterating, and rooting each change in real team pain points, not abstract goals.
Quality-focused testers and developers looking to explore DORA and SPACE should:
Read Google’s State of DevOps Reports (for DORA)
Look for emerging QA-centric research and articles (shoutout to Thiago’s recent blog, as noted in the episode)
Follow thought leaders
In short: Understand the frameworks, measure what matters, and experiment with change in small, meaningful steps.
Quality is not just a metric—it’s how teams work, communicate, and grow. By bringing DevEx, DORA, and SPACE into everyday conversations, testers and developers alike can create better products and better workplaces. If you’re ready to champion change, start small, measure honestly, and always keep the human side in focus.