Domain 7: Capacity & Performance | SRE Maturity Rubric

0-6

Ad-hoc

7-12

Foundational

13-18

Standardized

19-24

Advanced

25-30

Optimized

Scoring Criteria by Level

Level	Criteria
1	No capacity planning; reactive scaling; no load testing
2	Basic monitoring; manual scaling; occasional load tests
3	USE method applied; autoscaling configured; regular tests
4	Capacity models; predictive scaling; continuous perf tests
5	ML-based forecasting; cost-optimized; real-time adaptation

Assessment Questions

#	Question	Max
1	How do you monitor utilization/saturation?	6
2	How mature is your autoscaling?	6
3	How often do you load test?	6
4	Do you have capacity models?	6
5	How do you forecast demand?	6

Focus Areas

USE Method: Utilization, Saturation, Errors
Load Testing: Regular stress tests in CI/CD
Autoscaling: Horizontal scaling with proper signals
Forecasting: Demand prediction for planning

Anti-Patterns (Red Flags)

Scaling only when pages fire
No load testing before releases
Unknown system limits
Over-provisioned for "safety"
No performance budgets

Evidence Checklist

USE method dashboards for all services
Autoscaling policies configured
Load testing in CI/CD pipeline
Performance regression tests exist
Capacity planning documentation

Related Domains

Domain	Relationship
Observability	USE metrics from observability
Reliability	Load shedding at capacity limits
Release Eng	Perf tests gate releases

Know Your Limits

Measure, model, scale proactively.