AI adoption is saving builders a big period of time, however a number of friction factors nonetheless exist all through the software program growth life cycle that builders are nonetheless shedding time to.
In line with Atlassian’s 2025 State of Developer Expertise report, 99% of builders are saving time through the use of AI, and 68% save not less than 10 hours per week. For the survey, Atlassian gathered responses from 3,500 builders from the US, Australia, France, Germany, the UK, and India in March of this 12 months.
This 12 months’s outcomes are an enormous change from final 12 months, when a majority of survey respondents had but to see any productiveness positive aspects.
Of the builders saving time with AI, the highest 4 methods they’re reallocating their time embody bettering code high quality, creating new options, bettering engineering tradition, and creating documentation.
Jellyfish additionally lately launched its 2025 State of Engineering Administration report, the place it discovered that 90% of growth groups are utilizing AI coding instruments, and 62% consider they’re seeing not less than a 25% enhance in developer velocity due to these instruments.
Jellyfish’s co-founder and CEO Andrew Lau mentioned that the productiveness positive aspects detailed within the report haven’t been consistent with the 10x productiveness will increase that had been predicted.
“AI adoption in software program engineering is now not elective, however unlocking its full worth calls for greater than entry,” he mentioned. “It requires intentional measurement, structured enablement, and cultural funding. This isn’t a tooling improve – it’s an organizational transformation.”
Atlassian additionally famous that builders solely spend 16% of their time coding, and far of the present funding in AI is in AI coding assistants. “Coding shouldn’t be a friction level for builders, which is why coding assistants can improve the expertise with out bettering it,” the corporate wrote in a weblog submit.
This 12 months’s survey discovered {that a} important period of time is being misplaced to non-coding duties. Fifty p.c of respondents reported shedding over 10 hours per week, 40% lose six to 10 hours, and 10% lose lower than 5 hours.
“So we’re proper again the place we began, with builders saving 10 hours per week utilizing AI and shedding 10 hours per week to inefficiencies. Bettering the developer expertise requires a scientific strategy to understanding and resolving developer friction factors,” Atlassian wrote.
In line with the survey outcomes, the highest time wasters are discovering info, adopting new expertise, and context switching between instruments.
Making issues worse, 63% of respondents consider that leaders don’t perceive their ache factors, a rise from final 12 months when solely 44% felt the identical. Atlassian believes this can be attributable to leaders accepting the time financial savings achieved via AI with out addressing underlying points.
Atlassian recommends that leaders use information to uncover obstacles, and hearken to engineering groups carefully about their considerations surrounding roadblocks, unclear necessities, or heavy workloads.
“Builders are closest to the work and sometimes see issues first. However these insights solely assist in the event that they’re clearly communicated – with particular examples, measurable impression, and enterprise context. Leaders want to ask and act on this enter via retrospectives, surveys, and skip-level conferences that foster open dialogue,” the corporate wrote within the report.
