A recent explosion of new metrics, tools, and job descriptions has helped engineering organizations become more thoughtful about how they measure and understand impact. But it has also increased noise and misalignment across all levels of engineering.
According to a survey of over 350 software developers conducted by Uplevel and Atomik Research, there’s a significant disconnect between engineering leaders and their teams — one that may affect productivity and the delivery of business value.
Lack of executive awareness
This speaks to a larger struggle with visibility and alignment across all levels of engineering. But in general, engineering leaders lack insight into what their teams are working on, which can frustrate developers.
When CTOs don’t know what teams are working on:
• 44% of developers reported being overworked.
• 51% said CTOs reassign people to projects/tasks without knowing the full implications of doing so.
• 56% stated CTOs will make signi ficant strategic decisions without realizing how they will negatively affect the rest of the team or project.
Nor are CTOs the only ones who struggle with visibility, as developers often lack insight into how their efforts align with larger business goals. This upward transparency is very important to team success.
CTOs often lead on gut instinct, not data
Additionally, CTOs often use a combination of methods to get visibility into what their engineering teams are working on.
Insights and intelligence tools have helped fi ll an important information gap, with 88% of respondents finding these tools bene ficial and accurate when measuring engineering effectiveness. Despite that, 91% of devs are unhappy with the actual metrics their leadership teams are measuring.
When engineering insights and intelligence tools are deployed, they don’t always track the full picture, including data around developer well-being. Here are the top metrics respondents wish CTOs were measuring to better support their teams:
Leaders struggle to balance collaboration and focus
Sentiments around asynchronous communication may vary based on the engineering culture in which it's used. Companies that struggled to adapt to a fully remote workplace during the pandemic may have adopted Slack or chat without also adopting sustainable practices for using it (such as limiting responses during deep work time or after hours).
Are engineering leaders and their teams aligned?
While the survey results identify some major gaps, they also surface valuable insight into how work is done across engineering. And with greater transparency and alignment at all levels, engineering organizations can better bridge the disconnect between their leaders and teams.
The research for this report took place March 22-27, 2023. Respondents included U.S.- based devs/engineers at companies with 100+ employees.