Maintaining Software Team Productivity During Downsizing
How many software teams are planning to downsize, and how do leaders plan to maintain their team’s output in the face of staff and budget cuts?
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Most respondent organizations do not plan to downsize in the next two years, but over one-quarter are planning cuts
Leaders plan to leverage generative AI (GenAI) integrations to avoid downsizing-related losses in productivity
The majority describe their software engineering departments as resilient
Most do not plan to downsize, but more than one-quarter are planning cuts
Is your organization planning to downsize its software engineering department (e.g., eliminate staff, reduce spend) over the course of the next two years?
Among all respondent organizations (n = 119), most (60%) are not planning to downsize software engineering in the next two years. 28% are planning to make cuts.
n = 119
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
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Question: What are your final thoughts on scaling productivity in software engineering departments?
With the economic slowdown approaching quickly, companies are exploring ways to get more with less. Engineering budget is significant in most organizations and it’s one of the top priorities for sure. Automation is one of the major approaches towards increasing the productivity of software engineering teams.
Leaders plan to use GenAI to prevent downsizing-related productivity losses
What measures, if any, are in place in your organization to prevent productivity loss due to a downsized staff or budget? Select all that apply. (1)
Among those respondent organizations planning to downsize over the next two years (n = 33), many plan to prevent productivity loss through GenAI integrations (58%) or leadership- directed mentorship (52%).
Developer experience initiatives 33% | We have no measures in place 6% | Not sure 6% | Other 0%
n = 33
Question: What are your final thoughts on scaling productivity in software engineering departments?
AI tooling will be an enabler to unlock productivity for software engineers.
The majority describe their software departments as resilient
36% of all respondents (n = 119) describe their software engineering department as highly resilient — that is, it could recover quickly after an adverse event.
Thinking of resiliency as the ability to recover quickly after an adverse event (e.g., a software security issue), how would you describe your software engineering department’s current resiliency?
n = 119
Note: May not add up to 100% due to rounding
Among those at organizations planning to downsize (n = 33), more than half (58%) consider their department to be highly resilient. 2
Thinking of resiliency as the ability to recover quickly after an adverse event (e.g., a software security issue), how would you describe your software engineering department’s current resiliency?
Not sure 0% Not at all resilient 0%
n = 33
In their own words...
Question: What are your final thoughts on scaling productivity in software engineering departments?
Over the next 2 years, I would hope that we will be scaling by 3-10x what we are now. As that happens, my plan will be to break teams up into groups of 3-5 and have those teams take on specific pieces. As we grow further, we will become teams of teams with the same 3-5 number. In this way we can scale horizontally and hopefully eliminate the need for much middle management.
We have started adopting new technologies like GenAI that’s helping us to reduce some of the staff and cut down on the costs. Also, as a consulting division, we are able to offer better ROIs to our customers with this.
Respondent Breakdown
1 Question shown only to respondents who answered “Yes” to “Is your organization planning to downsize its software engineering department (e.g., eliminate staff, reduce spend) over the course of the next two years?”
2 Data filtered to show only respondents who answered “Yes” to “Is your organization planning to downsize its software engineering department (e.g., eliminate staff, reduce spend) over the course of the next two years?”