Developers Want to Build, Not Battle Friction
The developer experience has become a boardroom conversation in forward-looking organizations. How engineers work directly shapes how businesses compete, and when engineers have the time and tools to innovate, companies ship features faster, improve product quality and retain technical talent. When they don’t, productivity slows, burnout rises and turnover costs mount.
Research consistently backs this up. A 2020 McKinsey study shows that organizations that scored higher for developer velocity had higher shareholder returns than their peers. Similarly, a 2021 Google Cloud report on the state of DevOps highlights how elite software teams deliver software 973 times more frequently and recover from incidents 6,570 times faster than low performers. In short: Developer experience isn’t just about morale. It’s about velocity, resilience and competitive advantage.
A new Chainguard report, which surveyed 1,200 software engineers and technology leaders around the world, highlights both progress and friction in the developer experience. The survey found that though AI and automation are improving the developer experience, maintenance, tool sprawl and burnout continue to weigh teams down.
The Productivity Drain
The results paint an important picture of the current developer experience: It is difficult for software engineers to make time for building innovative new features while also dealing with code maintenance and addressing technical debt in their organizations.
Only one in three engineers strongly agreed they spend most of their time on work that energizes them, while another 52% somewhat agree. They point to daily pressures. A majority of engineers (72%) said competing demands on their time make it hard to find time for building new features. More than a third (35%) cited burnout as a major obstacle to a positive experience. And two-thirds of leaders admitted they worry about retaining talent under these conditions.
AI and Automation Help (With Caveats)
One bright spot is the growing role of AI and automation: 65% of respondents said most common engineering tasks are now mostly or fully automated. Among engineers whose workloads are mostly or fully automated, 94% reported spending the majority of their time on energizing work. That’s compared to only 67% from respondents who do not automate the majority of their tasks. AI is also delivering measurable relief: 89% of respondents said it saves them at least three hours per week, and 28% reported reclaiming up to six hours per week.
But adoption isn’t without hesitation. Over 40% of respondents flagged accountability, security and privacy as barriers to trusting AI in their workflows. “Shadow AI” — the use of unsanctioned AI tools at work — also surfaced as a risk, raising governance and compliance questions even as engineers seek ways to speed up their work. The result is a landscape where enthusiasm about AI is high, but trust and consistency lag behind.
What Engineers Really Want
If there’s one message that came through consistently in the data, it’s that engineers want more time to innovate: 93% said building new features is the most rewarding part of their job, yet they currently spend only 16% of their week doing it.
This imbalance doesn’t just frustrate teams. It slows innovation, erodes morale and raises retention risks. Both engineers and leaders agree that shifting the balance toward building is critical for business growth.
Developer Experience: A Board-Level Conversation
The findings show that AI and automation are creating new opportunities, but engineers remain burdened by maintenance, technical debt and tool sprawl. Leaders looking to improve the experience for engineers in their organizations can take the following steps:
- Reduce toil wherever possible. Look for opportunities to automate repetitive tasks like patching, testing and reporting. Every hour freed from low-value work is an hour that can be redirected to innovation.
- Integrate tools, don’t just add them. Tool sprawl erodes focus. Instead of introducing yet another platform, prioritize making existing tools work together more seamlessly to reduce context switching.
- Address technical debt systematically. Engineers report that technical debt is one of the biggest drags on productivity. Leaders should treat debt reduction as a strategic investment, not as background work to be deferred.
- Adopt AI and automation responsibly. Engineers are already saving hours each week with AI, but trust gaps remain. Establish clear guardrails for security, privacy and accountability so teams can use AI confidently and safely.
- Protect space for building. Engineers want to spend their time creating features and solving problems. Companies like Google and Atlassian set aside dedicated time for their engineers to work on projects not related to their day-to-day roles, with some projects evolving into hugely successful products like Gmail and Google News. Leaders who shield teams from constant interruptions and competing priorities will see faster delivery, stronger retention and more business value.
For companies that want to compete, the mandate is clear: Remove the friction, and give developers the space to innovate.
