Despite the growth of Agile software development and a focus on ensuring software is released faster, a recent IncrediBuild survey reveals that organisations are spending significant time on long, complex software builds.
Developers Waste $23,000 (£14,600) Annually While Waiting for Software to Build
According to the survey, respondents reported running software builds at least five times daily. An astonishing 22 per cent reported running over twenty builds a day, with a full rebuild taking an average of between 34 and 134 minutes.
The survey revealed that developers spend a minimum of two hours a day waiting for their software to build. At an average cost of $45 (£28) per hour for a software developer in the United States, and 261 annual workdays, this totals roughly 522 wasted hours of a developer’s work year, costing over $23,000 (£14,600) per developer per year.
Software builds are not the only slowdown. Tests, code analysis, QA scripts, and other development processes are also a major burden, according to the survey.
For a company, a developer’s wasted time impacts the bottom line. Instead of waiting for builds, these wasted hours could be spent beefing up the product’s features, fixing bugs or creating better algorithms. Imagine what you would do if you and your team had an extra two hours a day?
Speeding up development allows development teams to be more productive. Companies with faster builds have a competitive advantage and ability to be more agile, allowing them to release innovative software more frequently.
Because wasted time doesn’t show up in P&L statements, the issue has long been ignored. Development complexity has increased and business push companies to release earlier and more frequently than ever. Companies should not only invest time in creating an amazing product, but also invest in making sure that their development processes are efficient and put the ‘agile’ back into their Agile development.
One thought on “If You Build It (Fast), They Will Come”
Yes that may be true. But the 2 hour break rests the developer’s brain and helps him to do better work when the build is ready. Continuous work decreases creativity too.