If you wish to speak about developer productiveness within the AI period, you need to speak about supply efficiency. The DORA metrics stay a cussed actuality test as a result of they measure throughput and stability quite than quantity: lead time for modifications, deployment frequency, change failure fee, and time to revive. The SPACE framework can be helpful as a result of it reminds us that productiveness is multidimensional, and “feels quicker” isn’t the identical as “is quicker.” AI usually boosts satisfaction early as a result of it removes drudgery. That issues. However satisfaction can coexist with worse efficiency if groups spend their time validating, debugging, and remodeling AI-generated code that’s verbose, subtly incorrect, or inconsistent with inner requirements. If you would like one manager-friendly measure that forces honesty, observe the time to compliant deployment: the elapsed time from work being “prepared” to precise software program working in manufacturing with the required safety controls, observability, and coverage checks.
That is the half the business nonetheless tries to bop round: AI makes the liberty drawback worse. Gergely Orosz argues that as AI writes extra of the code, engineers transfer up the abstraction ladder. The job shifts from writing to reviewing, integrating, and making architectural selections. That appears like a promotion. Hurray, proper? Possibly. In observe, it may be a burden as a result of it assumes a degree of programs understanding that’s inconsistently distributed throughout a crew.
Compounding the issue, when creation turns into low cost, coordination turns into costly. For those who let each crew use AI to generate bespoke options, you find yourself with a patchwork quilt of stacks, frameworks, and operational assumptions. It will probably all look fantastic in pull requests and unit checks, however what occurs when somebody has to combine, safe, and function it? At that time, the group slows down, not as a result of builders can’t kind, however as a result of the system can’t cohere.
