On Developer Experience (DevEx) and Rainforests

Companies are starting to take notice of a factor that affects the productivity of programmers – the degree to which their work environment is optimised. Research shows that developer experience, also known as DevEx, can be the key to significant success in today’s market.

A 2022 survey found that the developer community’s biggest motivation sources are new challenges, continuous learning, product creation, and problem-solving. Despite this, developers typically devote only 30% to 40% of their time to creating new features and applications that can increase a company’s revenue. Most of their day is spent configuring, integrating tools, and troubleshooting system bugs.

After all, today’s software systems don’t look like a pre-planned garden. Instead, they are much more like a rainforest, where animals and plants coexist, compete, live, die, grow, and interact in unplanned ways. This leaves developers jumping from one activity to the next, trying to get to the context of unclear tasks, and with no space to focus fully on delivering code. As a result, they can’t perform at their best.

House of Cards

Areas of developer work, such as code maintenance, testing, security issues or incident resolution, do not have quick fixes. They appear complex and chaotic to people outside the IT community, so not enough attention is paid to developers’ problems. Thus, as the expectations of their profession rise, so do the experienced talent’s burnout, mistakes and termination rates. The widespread type of homogeneous and non-inclusive company culture is not helping either.

However, change is happening in the industry. The hot topic of discussion in the business environment is no longer productivity or speed of work but how these two factors can be achieved sustainably through the developer experience (DevEx). DevEx aims to help programmers write code in an environment that is optimised to do so. For example, it examines whether they know what tools and systems they need for particular processes, whether they are confusing, and whether they have easy access to them. Is everything working as expected? How much manual work is required to complete critical tasks? 

‘Software development is like a giant house of cards in our brains,’ says Idan Gazit, senior director of research at GitHub. ‘A tiny distraction can flip it over in an instant. DevEx is ultimately about how we handle that house of cards.’ Experts agree that high-quality DevEx includes the following elements: collaboration, speed, short feedback cycles, a high degree of automation and integration, low levels of tension or labour intensity, and transparent, well-documented processes.

Overlooked DevEx potential

Developers are gaining more and more influence these days. Their number worldwide is expected to reach nearly 29 million this year, a figure higher than the population of Australia. The developer community is growing faster than the number of people in Brazil and will likely surpass the number of Canadians in the future. Furthermore, every brand is gradually becoming a technology company at its core – regardless of the product or service it offers.

When employees have access to technology that makes their jobs more efficient, their engagement rates increase by 230%. In addition, they are 85% more likely to stay with a company for more than three years. This is supported by the story of the global online shopping brand Etsy. The company invested 20% of its development budget in DevEx, which enabled it to grow its workforce from 250 people to nearly 1,000.

Another example of successful modernisation of development processes is CarMax, the largest used car retailer in the US. It formally renamed its IT department CarMax Technology, with business outcomes and products as its focus instead of traditional IT requirements and deadlines. CarMax physically moved its programmers into a cross-functional team and began evaluating its programmers based on transparent quarterly goals instead of completed projects. In addition, the company also places a strong emphasis on rapid product testing with its partners and clientele to get feedback before launching.

The Forrester survey showed that 77% of respondents believe that an emphasis on good DevEx can reduce the time to market for products. In addition, companies that focus on the best possible DevEx achieve 60% higher revenue growth than those that don’t.

‘When you’re selling technology, investing in DevEx is not optional,’ states CJ Dotson, senior project manager for developer productivity at Adobe. ‘Adobe’s investment in DevEx leads to higher developer satisfaction and better business results.’

DevEx will accelerate software development

In a 2022 Stack Overflow survey, nearly 75% of people surveyed said they were looking for a new job or were open to the idea. The developer community reported better pay as the main motivation for changing jobs, but they also identified the company’s focus on DevEx as the feature that makes the company most appealing. IT specialists may also be attracted to companies that foster a fun, productive, and diverse work environment and the resources to advance their education.

Companies need to recognise that developers should not be evaluated in the same way as the rest of the workforce. Since they are often expected to create new features, they need the opportunity to collectively brainstorm, learn from others, and feel connected to the end goals.

Documenting common developer questions and putting tools in place that allow them to easily find the answers they need increases their flexibility. Teams that receive rapid feedback report 50% lower technical debt. The McKinsey report also points out that better DevEx can lead to easier workforce attraction and retention. DevEx is important for all companies – not just technology ones.

A Canadian telecommunications provider, TELUS, saved $17 million by providing developer tools to better support collaboration. Language learning platform Duolingo has invested heavily in AI-based tools that have increased productivity. This has led to a 25% speed-up in development and a 67% reduction in average code review time. Finally, Toyota Motor North America has built an internal developer portal called Chofer. It saved $5 million per year and reduced the time it takes to complete projects from a quarter to a week.

Productivity grows with DevEx

Organisations are increasingly aware that investing in DevEx can unlock a range of opportunities for product innovation, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction. When developers have dedicated time for deep work, they feel 50% more productive compared to those who don’t. If they find their work engaging, their productivity increases by 30%. If they find their tools and work processes intuitive and easy to use, they feel 50% more innovative. This was revealed in the publication DevEx in Action: A Study of its Tangible Impacts.

Improving DevEx makes a development team productive from day one on the job and integrates the company’s internal technology environment with its business strategy. This will directly impact the quality, reliability, maintainability and security of software systems.