IT leaders are out of touch with development team progress

A new study reveals that 40 percent of respondents don't know whether their development teams are behind or ahead of schedule, and 27 percent say they have trouble following the teams' progress to ensure they are meeting their goals.

The research from Couchbase, based on a survey of 650 senior IT decision makers, shows 88 percent of respondents are aware of the challenges faced by development teams.

Top issues cited include that deadlines and agility requirements are difficult to meet (42 percent); that they are being asked to do too much in too little time (40 percent); or that they don't have the skills (24 percent) or technology (23 percent) they need.

"Organizations need to understand that when they are undertaking digital transformation, what they are actually doing is putting developers front and center," says Ravi Mayuram, chief technology officer of Couchbase. "The modern business depends on the developer and development agility more than ever before. Development teams are not assisting the business, they are leading it to new frontiers through digital transformation. That's why they need to be given the right resources: be it cloud-based infrastructure, CI/CD friendly tooling, and the right training. This is what will ensure success in these times of product-led transformation and growth."

Obstacles faced in supporting development teams include difficulty redeploying them rapidly to work on new projects when needed (32 percent); ensuring they always have the right technology (31 percent); and identifying and solving the problems teams face (31 percent).

Despite enterprises planning to increase their digital transformation spend by 46 percent in 2022, developer teams have only grown by an average of three percent in the last year. In order to bridge the gap, organizations will need to invest in growing their teams while making existing teams more efficient.

While 30 percent of respondents say that the pandemic has taught them how to empower development teams, 24 percent still find it difficult to gauge whether their teams are engaged in and enthusiastic about their work.

The full report is available from the Couchbase site.

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