The Future of Software Development Lies in Greater Autonomy

January 9, 2023

Our industry already knows a lot about the developers – their favored coding languages, frameworks, and cloud platforms. But how much do we know about the essential yet intangible things like how developers want to work and what they want to work on? In today’s competitive talent landscape, leaders need to understand the critical aspects of software development work to keep their developers happy. Recently a state of the developer report was created, in which a survey was done, and more than 2,000 developers were asked to share their thoughts. The survey results uncovered essential trends in how developers have changed their attitudes and preferences about their work in recent years. Please read about the top trends business leaders should consider when building and managing their development teams.

1. Developer autonomy tops it all

The research shows that with greater autonomy, developers become happier at work, even if there is more frequent context switching and job complexity. Furthermore, developers with more autonomy like to spend more time coding, and they can work on more products and services. Company size also plays a significant factor, as it has been seen that autonomy levels are higher among developers in larger companies. Today when the work is growing more distributed, giving developers greater autonomy will be more critical than ever, especially for small and medium size companies.

2. Developers are becoming more responsible

Today, as we look around, there is a ‘You build it, you run it’ (YBIYRI) culture; the rise of this practice has seen development teams working more to support the code they have built. The research showed that almost 61% of developers now work this way, with an even more significant number agreeing that they should be given more responsibility for the software product lifecycle than they currently are. If developers are close to a product or service they have built, they can improve it further if provided a higher degree of ownership. Therefore, engineering leaders should arrange for more space for development teams to consider doing YBIYRI responsibilities, ensuring in the process that they have the right tools & processes to be successful.

3. Coding or tooling depends on the developer’s preference

Nearly 70% of developers say that writing code is an essential skill in their role, but nearly 60% think it won’t be required in the future. Although some developers think there is a future in writing code, others believe that tools will ultimately take over coding and make writing code obsolete. Today, most developers are somewhere in between. Managers and team leaders should allow developers to lean into their preferences rather than dictate how to do things around here.

Ready to automate dev & ops to shorten the SDLC?

Talk to our experts today & see how they can help to fulfill your business objectives.

4. Fewer tools aren’t always the best thing

Many developers use more tools than before to get work done (around 70%), and it doesn’t need to be wrong. The tool must be flexible; that’s the critical thing. Those developers using more flexible tools say that it simplifies their work, making them happier in their roles. But those using a more significant number of inflexible tools face the risk of tool sprawl. Hence. Instead of focusing on the number of tools available, you should consider the value each tool brings to your developers.

You should never forget one thing: every developer is different. Though we’d love to give you a simple model that helps your teams to do their best, the reality is different & it’s more complicated than you might think. In this blog, we have provided some valuable insights that will help you attract and retain top developer talent. One thing is clear; greater autonomy is the future of software development. Therefore, developers should be given more freedom to decide which tools they want to use, what they want to work on, and how that work gets done. ISmile Technologies sees DevOps as no-touch CI/CD driven software delivery approach. An approach that believes that a single integrated delivery function from requirements to production will provide higher business value to customers efficiently. Schedule your free assessment today.