AI adoption is saving builders a major period of time, however a number of friction factors nonetheless exist all through the software program improvement life cycle that builders are nonetheless shedding time to.
In response to Atlassian’s 2025 State of Developer Expertise report, 99% of builders are saving time through the use of AI, and 68% save no 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 a giant 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 just lately launched its 2025 State of Engineering Administration report, the place it discovered that 90% of improvement groups are utilizing AI coding instruments, and 62% imagine they’re seeing no less than a 25% improve in developer velocity due to these instruments.
Jellyfish’s co-founder and CEO Andrew Lau stated that the productiveness positive aspects detailed within the report haven’t been in step with the 10x productiveness will increase that had been predicted.
“AI adoption in software program engineering is not non-obligatory, however unlocking its full worth calls for greater than entry,” he stated. “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 is just not a friction level for builders, which is why coding assistants can improve the expertise with out bettering it,” the corporate wrote in a weblog publish.
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 method to understanding and resolving developer friction factors,” Atlassian wrote.
In response to the survey outcomes, the highest time wasters are discovering info, adopting new know-how, and context switching between instruments.
Making issues worse, 63% of respondents imagine 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 by means of AI with out addressing underlying points.
Atlassian recommends that leaders use information to uncover obstacles, and take heed to engineering groups carefully about their issues surrounding roadblocks, unclear necessities, or heavy workloads.
“Builders are closest to the work and infrequently 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 by means of retrospectives, surveys, and skip-level conferences that foster open dialogue,” the corporate wrote within the report.
