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Hey everyone! It's Hailey here, and today I'm diving into a topic that's buzzing in the tech world—coding assistants and their impact on software delivery speed.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: "How much faster can these tools really make my team?" Well, let's unravel this together, because there's a lot to unpack, and trust me, you'll want to stick around for the insights I'm about to share!

First off, let's address the elephant in the room.

There's been a lot of hype around coding assistants like GitHub Copilot, with some claims suggesting they can boost delivery speed by fifty percent.

Sounds amazing, right? But hold on—our research indicates that the actual gains are more likely in the range of ten to fifteen percent.

Now, while that might not sound as flashy, it's still a significant improvement, especially when you consider the cost-effectiveness of these tools.

When we talk about productivity in software delivery, what we're really getting at is speed.

And while it's tempting to equate productivity solely with how fast we can deliver, it's a bit more nuanced than that.

For our purposes, let's focus on something called story cycle time, which serves as a solid proxy for measuring speed in software development.

Over the past year, we've been testing a heuristic—a sort of educated guess—about how coding assistants can enhance team performance.

We've gathered data from various teams and clients to see how these tools can save time.

Here's the breakdown: in an optimistic scenario, if a team spends forty percent of their cycle time coding and sixty percent of that is supportable by a coding assistant, they could potentially see a thirteen percent reduction in cycle time.

Even in average scenarios, we're looking at around seven percent.

Now, let's put this to the test with a real-world example.

One of our clients tracked their usage of GitHub Copilot across one hundred and fifty tickets.

They documented the type of tasks, whether Copilot was used, and the estimated time saved.

The results were eye-opening! When Copilot was utilized, the team estimated an overall time savings of about thirty percent for tasks like generating business code and scripts.

But here's the kicker—while Copilot was a game-changer for repetitive tasks, it wasn't a one-size-fits-all solution.

For simpler bug fixes or tasks requiring deep contextual understanding, developers often found it quicker to go the manual route.

This highlights an important lesson: while coding assistants can enhance efficiency, they're not a replacement for human expertise, especially in complex scenarios.

So, what did we learn from this case study? Well, the data aligns with our initial hypothesis.

Across various organizations, we're seeing estimated speed improvements of around five to fifteen percent.

And while that fifty percent figure might have set unrealistic expectations, a ten percent increase is still a win in the grand scheme of things.

Now, you might be wondering if this means coding assistants aren't worth the investment.

Absolutely not! These tools are still invaluable.

They cost a fraction of what a typical delivery team's operational expenses are, and the potential for improvement is significant.

Plus, coding assistants are continuously evolving, with new features being rolled out that could further enhance their effectiveness.

As we wrap up, I want to emphasize that while cycle time is an important metric, it's not the whole story.

We need to consider the broader picture of productivity, including research, planning, testing, and maintenance.

And instead of fixating solely on speed, let's focus on improving the overall developer experience and making tasks as clear and specific as possible before leveraging these tools.

So, there you have it! Coding assistants are here to stay, and while they may not deliver the miraculous speed boosts some expected, they certainly offer valuable support in the software development process.

Keep exploring, keep innovating, and let's continue to transform the way we tell our brand stories through technology.

Thanks for tuning in, and I can't wait to share more insights with you soon!