Developer productiveness is important to Atlassian.
The Australian tech agency includes roughly 5,000 engineers worldwide and is residence to a variety of globally aggressive software program merchandise for work groups. Its success is determined by participating builders and delivery nice merchandise.
Nonetheless, Atlassian thinks measuring developer productiveness is ineffective. As a substitute, the corporate prefers to align with a broader initiative to boost developer expertise referred to as “developer joy.” The thought is easy: Glad builders will in the end be extra productive.
Atlassian’s drawback with measuring developer productiveness
Atlassian believes productiveness is troublesome to measure and will be counterproductive.
In a weblog put up, Andrew Boyagi, DevOps evangelist at Atlassian, stated he understands why companies wish to measure developer productiveness. With pressures on IT and enterprise leaders to ship digital merchandise or options or handle digital transformations, these corporations wish to display return on funding in individuals and expertise, he defined.
However he stated developer productiveness is troublesome to measure. Widespread measurements previous and current have included traces of code produced, duties moved to the performed column, story factors estimated in a dash or DORA metrics like software program deployment frequency and cycle occasions.
Atlassian DevOps advocate Sven Peters stated these measures don’t truly measure productiveness. He stated measurements like traces of code or deployment frequency will be gamed, story factors are estimates and neither measure optimistic outcomes for patrons.
Productiveness measures are additionally problematic contemplating growth roles now contain way more than coding and delivery new options. Peters stated builders’ cognitive load now contains extra time each working and constructing the software program.
Developer expertise: A brand new approach to enhance productiveness?
There’s rising curiosity in how developer expertise impacts productiveness. DevEx focuses on creating the fitting atmosphere for productive work primarily via higher instruments and applied sciences, shifting away from DevOps’ emphasis on productiveness instruments and frameworks.
Deloitte named DevEx a prime tech pattern for 2024. The agency stated builders at the moment are “in high demand but hindered” by productiveness challenges like configuration, device integration and debugging, which impede actions and options that add worth to their enterprise.
Three parts of Developer Expertise excellence
Evaluation from Deloitte discovered there have been three key parts of an ideal DevEx proposition:
- Platforms and instruments: Fewer numbers of higher, standardised platforms and instruments make it simpler and extra pleasurable for builders to work. Harness’ State of Developer Expertise Survey discovered too many instruments in use, growing context switching and slowing onboarding.
- Methods of working and move: Nice DevEx wants “clear, continuous processes” so builders can accomplish duties in a “flow” whereas avoiding friction from disconnected methods or poor governance. This contains superior group workflow administration and DevSecOps.
- Expertise expertise: Builders work finest when a part of a “fun, productive and diverse” group and tradition; are engaged in steady studying; and have possibilities for mobility and profession development via steady development and growth alternatives.
Atlassian’s productiveness strategy: Maximise ‘developer joy’
Atlassian believes builders who’re completely happy and happy with their work are additionally prone to be productive. Which means, somewhat than waste time and sources measuring productiveness, effort is best spent investing in and maximising what it phrases “developer joy.”
Atlassian stated developer pleasure has a variety of inputs however contains two foremost elements:
- Developer expertise: Atlassian summarises DevEx as being how engineers really feel concerning the instruments, frameworks and platforms they use to create software program.
- Engineering tradition: Atlassian defines engineering tradition as being “how work gets done.” It contains parts equivalent to organisational values, norms and decision-making.
Atlassian’s Peters supplied additional perception into what creates pleasure for Atlassian’s builders, together with:
- Dev high quality: Builders get pleasure from work extra in the event that they concentrate on nice high quality code.
- Dev progress: The flexibility to make progress rapidly with out blockers satisfies builders.
- Dev worth: Pleasure and delight come from creating worth and impacting buyer companies.
What does ‘developer joy’ appear to be?
Atlassian’s concentrate on creating and measuring developer pleasure has yielded myriad enhancements throughout completely different product groups. As outlined in a presentation given by Peters, these have included initiatives from groups engaged on Atlassian’s JIRA, Confluence and Trello merchandise.
JIRA
Their JIRA groups put in place a set of latest tips for code evaluations in order that receiving suggestions and making code enhancements are extra pleasurable for builders. Pointers embrace “assuming competence” of the developer and giving constructive, reasoned suggestions.
JIRA product and growth groups have additionally improved collaboration to keep away from rework. All group members at the moment are concerned at each stage of the lifecycle to various levels — from the product “wonder” section via the event and buyer “impact” phases.
Confluence
Atlassian’s Confluence group constructed an inner device for detecting “flaky” code assessments, which maintain up processing of pull requests. After figuring out a flaky take a look at, the device flags it for evaluate through an automatic Slack message, so builders are usually not distracted by time-consuming debugging tangents.
One other group diminished the time taken for pull requests to be processed, and the code merged with the principle department from three to 1.2 days. They did this by sending automated reminders to group members to evaluate pull requests within the morning earlier than they began their very own work.
Trello
A Trello group devised a way to combine high quality assurance into their workflow. They created a QA Kick-Off, the place QA assistants inform builders concerning the exploratory assessments they’d conduct. This permits builders to imagine major possession of QA, with assist from the QA assistants.
How IT leaders can enhance their groups’ developer pleasure
Ask builders for options
Atlassian makes it clear that companies, together with tech corporations, severe about enhancing their developer expertise ought to ask builders themselves. Atlassian stated builders are greater than prepared to offer suggestions on the issues they’ve to enhance the enjoyment they’ve at work.
Atlassian gives a free Developer Expertise Survey that groups can arrange and run digitally or in-person to measure their developer expertise. The survey might help to realize suggestions on parts like “sustainable speed to ship,” “waiting time,” “execution independence” and extra.
Find time for enhancing pleasure
Atlassian determined to unencumber 10% of developer time to permit them to search out methods to enhance “developer joy” within the enterprise. This sees builders at Atlassian spending about 55% of their time “changing the business” by growing merchandise and options for its clients, 35% of their time “keeping the lights on” via maintenance-style work and 10% of their time on developer pleasure.
Deal with every firm and group uniquely
Peters advises DevOps leaders to deal with every firm and group as having a singular path to developer pleasure. He stated that copying the approaches of different companies or groups might not work. As a substitute, work on enhancing pleasure inside a group’s distinctive instruments and processes.
Add context to productiveness metrics
Organisations mustn’t solely depend on the restricted story supplied by productiveness metrics like deployment frequencies. Somewhat, they need to search so as to add fuller context to those measures, and add new ones that impression productiveness, like the enjoyment of developer groups.
Developer pleasure might be the longer term for tech expertise
Discovering a tech office that champions pleasure over productiveness measurement might look like a dream to builders. In reality, for a lot of builders worldwide working at giant tech corporations, safeguarding wellbeing will be arduous sufficient, not to mention fostering real pleasure in work.
Australia’s Atlassian could also be on to one thing, although. As Boyagi suggests in his Atlassian weblog put up, corporations that concentrate on DevEx may outperform opponents, together with attracting prime expertise. “I know which type of company I would prefer to work for,” Boyoagi wrote.