Guest: Nicole Forsgren - Senior Director of Developer Intelligence at Google. Nicole is a leading expert in measuring developer productivity and experience, having created the DORA and SPACE frameworks and authored the influential book "Accelerate." Key Takeaways: Most productivity metrics, like lines of code, are misleading in the context of AI. Focus on velocity and quality instead. Developer experience (DevEx) is crucial for productivity and should be treated as a product, focusing on satisfaction, performance, and efficiency. AI tools can accelerate coding but require trust and verification due to non-deterministic outputs. Start improving DevEx by talking to developers to identify friction points and quick wins, rather than jumping straight to tools. Measure the impact of AI by aligning metrics with company priorities, such as speed to market or cost savings, and use surveys for quick insights. Topics Covered: Measuring productivity, AI in development, Developer Experience (DevEx), DORA and SPACE frameworks, Improving engineering workflows, Trust in AI-generated code, Setting up a DevEx team, Measuring AI impact on productivity.
“Most productivity metrics are a lie.”
“We can't just put in a command and guess something back and accept it.”
“When DevEx is poor, everything else just isn't going to help.”
