DORA 2024 report: AI improves productivity but not delivery stability

2024-10-23 · Publisher : Google Cloud (DORA) · Domain : Cloud & DevOps

On 23 October 2024, DORA publishes its annual Accelerate State of DevOps report: over 75% of respondents use AI daily, yet a 25% rise in AI adoption comes with a 7.2% drop in delivery stability.

### Background On 23 October 2024, the DORA research programme (part of Google Cloud) publishes the tenth edition of its Accelerate State of DevOps report. This edition measures the effect of AI on software development at length for the first time, and revisits platform engineering and developer experience. ### Key facts - More than 75% of respondents rely on AI for at least one daily task; over a third report "moderate" to "extreme" productivity gains. - A 25% increase in AI adoption is associated with +7.5% documentation quality, +3.4% code quality and +3.1% code review speed. - It is also associated with a 1.5% drop in delivery throughput and a 7.2% drop in delivery stability. - 39% of respondents report little or no trust in AI-generated code. - Platform engineering improves developer productivity but may reduce change stability during its rollout. ### Why it matters The report supplies figures against the idea that AI mechanically speeds up delivery. For a consulting firm, it argues for accompanying adoption with guardrails: small batches, automated tests, code review. The finding on internal platforms is just as useful: a poorly designed developer portal can degrade stability before it serves it. The report recalls that DORA's four key metrics, introduced in 2013, have become the industry standard for measuring software delivery performance, which lends weight to its findings on AI. ### Takeaway The annual DevOps reference questions AI's delivery gains in the absence of solid engineering practices.

Tags : DevOps, Plateforme engineering, IA, Google Cloud