Mean time to resolve (MTTR)

What is mean time to resolve? 

Mean time to resolve (MTTR) is a performance metric that represents the average time between when an incident is detected and when the problem is completely resolved, meaning there’s a long term fix in place.

Mean time to resolve includes the time it takes to: 

• Discover the failure 

• Diagnose the issue

• Test potential solutions 

• Complete necessary repairs 

To calculate mean time to resolve, add together the total downtime during a specific period and divide it by the number of incidents that occurred during that time frame.

It’s important to note that even though mean time to resolve is often abbreviated as MTTR, other companies may use this acronym to define either recovery, repair, respond, or resolve. Collectively these metrics are sometimes referred to as “MTT* metrics.”  Although the definitions often overlap, make sure to clarify with your team which measurement you are discussing. 

Why is mean time to resolve important? 

Mean time to resolve indicates how efficiently an organization can resolve an incident. It also acts as a basic measure of how easily an organization can maintain its equipment.

A low mean time to resolve means a team can quickly and efficiently repair a broken component. 

A high mean time to resolve isn’t bad — it simply shows organizations where they can make improvements to their incident management plans. 

What are the best practices for lowering mean time to resolve? 

We have seen that good incident response processes correlate to lower MTTR. According to the Incident Benchmark Report, an analysis of more than 50,000 incidents on the FireHydrant platform:

• The average MTTR across company sizes and severity levels was just over 24 hours. 

• When defined roles were used during an incident, MTTR went down by 42%

• Incidents that had services attached to them saw a 36% drop in MTTR, compared to those that didn’t. 

What tools can help reduce mean time to resolve? 

Most anything that can streamline the incident response process can help reduce mean time to resolve. FireHydrant helps declare, respond, and communicate about incidents of any severity and priority, minimizing toil and mean time to resolve while maximizing developer output.