The state of developer experience with Atlassian engineering leaders (DOP105)
Key Takeaways
Misalignment Between Developers and Leaders
There is a huge disconnect between what developers and leaders perceive as the biggest challenges to a positive developer experience.
Leaders cited understaffing, expanded developer roles, and new technologies as the top issues, while developers pointed to technical debt, documentation, lack of deep work time, and unclear direction.
Only 44% of developers believe their leaders understand the problems they face daily.
This misalignment leads to leaders investing in the wrong areas to improve developer experience, further exacerbating the problems.
Measuring Developer Experience
Traditional metrics like lines of code, deployment frequency, and story points are widely used but ineffective, with only 50% of companies finding them useful.
Measuring and addressing the specific points of friction faced by developers is more effective than measuring productivity.
Companies that invest in understanding and improving developer experience see higher developer satisfaction and productivity.
The Role of AI in Developer Experience
AI-powered tools like auto-review, search, and alert grouping can significantly reduce developer friction and improve productivity.
However, applying AI blindly is not the solution - it should be used strategically to address specific pain points identified by developers.
Atlassian's approach is to experiment with AI-based solutions on a small scale, measure the impact, and then roll out successful initiatives more broadly.
Atlassian's Approach to Improving Developer Experience
Understand the Friction Points: Atlassian runs quarterly surveys with a 90% response rate to identify the top areas of friction for their developers.
Baseline and Measure Progress: Atlassian tracks metrics related to the identified friction points, making them visible to all developers through their internal Developer Compass platform.
Address the Pain Points: Atlassian has dedicated teams working on improving developer experience, and engineering leaders are also empowered to focus on addressing the specific needs of their teams.
Close the Feedback Loop: Atlassian goes back to developers to understand if their feedback has been addressed and if the investments made have had the desired impact.
Leverage AI Strategically: Atlassian selectively applies AI-powered solutions, like auto-review and AI-powered search, to address specific friction points identified through their surveys and interactions with developers.
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