Thanks to AI, developers write code faster, but overall software delivery is barely any faster. This is according to Atlassian’s 2026 State of Developer Experience report. As many as 72 percent experience as much or more friction than before the advent of AI.
Atlassian published the latest edition of its annual developer experience survey today. At first glance, the picture is positive: 87 percent of developers say that AI tools help them write and ship code faster. Yet 72 percent experience as much or even more friction throughout the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC) than before the introduction of AI.
Moreover, the time savings seem to be evaporating. In 2025, 68 percent of developers said they would save at least ten hours a week with AI. This year, that figure has dropped to 25 percent.
How is this possible? A major cause is new corrective work. 65 percent regularly spend time reviewing, debugging, and correcting AI-generated code. According to Atlassian, slow code reviews and merging issues can undo the gains previously made.
Old obstacles remain
Interestingly, the biggest productivity obstacles aren’t technical. Just like last year, searching for information tops the list (51 percent), followed by meetings (50 percent), context switching (45 percent), technical debt (44 percent), and unclear requirements (40 percent). In the 2025 report, developers also lost most of the time saved by AI to searching, switching between tools, and cross-team collaboration.
According to Atlassian, most AI implementations still focus on code generation rather than the entire team’s workflow. “AI can help developers work faster, but faster code isn’t the same as better software delivered sooner,” says Andrew Boyagi, Customer CTO at Atlassian.
Only 17 percent of developers and 23 percent of engineering leaders say their organization has a clearly communicated and implemented AI strategy. Additionally, 60 percent of developers indicate that AI usage is viewed as a productivity metric. However, only 42 percent of leaders believe they have the right metrics to distinguish real gains from mere AI activity. Developers at organizations with a clear AI strategy report twice as often that there is less friction than before the introduction of AI.
Tip: Williams uses Atlassian everywhere to gain that extra tenth of a second