Release Assurance

We see a strong correlation between leadership championing the success of developers, and those teams actually feeling that support.

To be clear, most developers still seem relatively happy with their jobs. We do, however, see some red flags in teams that aren’t feeling supported when it comes to innovation and improving outcomes.

Too much focus on avoiding risk introduces more risk

Overall, a majority of developers (53%) say leadership pressures them to minimize the need for rollbacks or take only low levels of risk—a pressure that comes from official policy. And 40% of developers say their company has little to no risk tolerance for unexpectedly negative outcomes in software releases (such as rollbacks or failed deployments).

What we also see is that too much focus on avoiding mistakes will cost you talent. The majority of developers (67%) say they or someone they know has quit over pressure to minimize deployment errors, including 36% who have quit themselves.

Change needs to be championed from the top down, and developers who feel supported by leadership to take risks often feel more confident in their work. And those incremental risks can lead to larger, organizational success. V

irtually all developers say applying new development approaches and solutions can positively affect business outcomes, especially by encouraging greater innovation among staff (53%), increasing adaptability (52%), and even improving the bottom line (49%).

There’s more job satisfaction at innovative organizations

There’s been a lot of efforts to keep developers happy in recent years, and some of it appears to be working. Overall, 92% of developers say their teams are either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their current roles.

“Somewhat satisfied” doesn’t mean those developers are extremely happy with the way things are going. It could be more akin to a shrug. And the way the company is perceived to be performing makes a difference.

For instance, 86% of devs who describe their company as prioritizing developer outcomes for software releases as either a top or high priority also say they are satisfied with their roles. Contrast that with just 14% of developers who say they are satisfied with their position even though outcomes are not a top priority for their organization. If you don’t feel like leadership has your back, you’re probably not as happy at your job.

People will quit over too much pressure to avoid risks

Note for chart above: Multi-choice question and reflects all respondents who answered “yes” to either or both “yes” categories.

Nobody wants to work in a culture of fear. A boss who is a micromanager can destroy your morale, as can overly burdensome processes.

The majority of developers in our study (67%) have either quit a job due to pressures from trying to avoid rollbacks or botched deployments, or know someone who has. To this point, there is some danger in being too careful, and that can impact retention.

Of those who say their process is at least somewhat of an obstacle to innovation, 74% say they’ve either left an organization or know someone who has due to pressure to avoid mistakes. So we see an over-reliance on a painstaking process can cause problems with retention over time.

And, in organizations where developer outcomes are considered less than a large priority, 78% have quit or know someone who has. That speaks to the fact that if management isn’t trying to actively make the lives of developers better, attrition could follow