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How to measure AI developer productivity in 2025 | Nicole Forsgren

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Oct 19, 2025

Guest

Nicole Forsgren

Nicole Forsgren, Senior Director of Developer Intelligence at Google and creator of the DORA and SPACE frameworks, dives into the evolving landscape of developer productivity in the age of AI. She challenges traditional metrics, explaining why they often mislead. Nicole introduces her seven-step framework from her upcoming book, Frictionless, emphasizing the importance of understanding developer experience and trust in AI-generated code. Discover how AI can accelerate workflows while maintaining strategic focus and uncovering quick wins in team processes.

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Episode notes

00:00 / 00:00

Metrics Can Lie Without Strategy

Most productivity metrics are misleading because they can be gamed, especially lines of code.
Faster delivery without strategy simply produces more low-quality output and technical debt.

00:00 / 00:00

Three Pillars Of Developer Experience

Developer experience has three reinforcing components: flow state, cognitive load, and feedback loops.
AI changes each component and reshapes how engineers enter flow and receive feedback.

00:00 / 00:00

AI Both Fragments And Enables Flow

AI both interrupts and enables flow: it fragments work but can also prime and parallelize tasks.
Skilled engineers build toolchains that assign agents and maintain momentum across tasks.

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Defining Developer Experience (DevEx)

05:17 • 3min

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Flow State, Cognitive Load, and Feedback Loops

08:39 • 2min

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How Senior Engineers Orchestrate AI Agents

10:39 • 1min

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Why Most Productivity Metrics Are Misleading

12:03 • 3min

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SPACE vs. DORA in the AI Era

14:55 • 3min

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Trusting AI-Generated Code and Review Overhead

18:08 • 30sec

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Rethinking Work Blocks and Deep Work with AI

18:38 • 4min

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Start Improving DevEx by Listening First

22:36 • 2min

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Common Low-Hanging DevEx Improvements

24:46 • 2min

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How to Spot Teams That Can Move Faster

26:50 • 4min

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AI Accelerates Prototyping but Strategy Still Matters

30:26 • 3min

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Measuring AI's Productivity Gains: Velocity and Beyond

33:47 • 3min

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Frictionless: Seven-Step DevEx Framework

36:39 • 3min

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Seven Steps Detailed: Start to Quick Wins

39:35 • 42sec

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Using Data and Surveys for DevEx

40:17 • 16sec

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Deciding Strategy, Selling It, and Driving Change

40:33 • 3min

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How to Staff a Developer Experience Team

43:57 • 1min

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Impact and the J-Curve of DevEx Work

45:21 • 58sec

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How to Quantify DevEx Value for Leaders

46:19 • 3min

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Practical Advice to Measure AI Tool Impact

49:28 • 4min

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Three Starter Metrics: Surveys, Velocity, and Time Savings

53:00 • 4min

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Why Satisfaction Beats Happiness Surveys

56:37 • 2min

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AI Tools People Find Useful Today

58:21 • 1min

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Treat DevEx Like a Product

59:23 • 2min

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Personal AI Use Case: Home Design Mockups

01:00:56 • 2min

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Lightning Round: Books, Shows, and Products

01:02:36 • 3min

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Nicole's Role at Google

How to Outpace Your Competition in the AI Era

Nicole Forsgren

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The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis chronicles the intellectual and personal relationship between Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, two Israeli psychologists whose research fundamentally changed our understanding of human decision-making. Their studies, conducted from the late 1960s to the 1980s, exposed systematic errors in human judgment under uncertainty and laid the foundation for behavioral economics. The book delves into their extraordinary lives, including their careers in the Israeli military, and how their personal differences and eventual estrangement affected their work. Lewis's narrative makes complex psychological concepts accessible through engaging storytelling, highlighting the profound impact of Kahneman and Tversky's work on various fields, including economics, medicine, and government regulation.

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In this book, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health. The book aims to replace the outdated medical framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, focusing on creating the best individual plan for long-term health. It covers topics such as the limitations of cholesterol tests, underdiagnosed liver conditions, the importance of exercise, and the integration of overall health with relational health.

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Accelerate

The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations

Nicole Forsgren

Gene Kim

Jez Humble

Accelerate presents the findings from four years of research, including data from the State of DevOps reports, to identify key capabilities that drive high performance in software delivery. The book focuses on 24 practices grouped into five categories: Continuous Delivery, Architecture, Product and Process, Lean Management and Monitoring, and Cultural. It provides practical guidance on how to apply these practices to improve team performance, reduce deployment pain, and enhance overall business value. The book is ideal for management at every level involved in digital transformation and software development.

Nicole Forsgren created the most widely used frameworks for measuring developer productivity—DORA and SPACE. She wrote the foundational book Accelerate and is about to release her newest book, Frictionless, a practical guide for helping teams move faster in the AI era. She’s currently Senior Director of Developer Intelligence at Google.

We discuss:

1. Why most productivity metrics are a lie

2. Signs that your engineering team could be moving much faster

3. Why AI accelerates coding but developers aren’t speeding up as much as you think

4. AI’s impact on engineers getting into “flow”

5. Her framework for building and scaling a developer experience team

6. The three components of developer experience: flow state, cognitive load, and feedback loops

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Where to find Nicole Forsgren:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicolefv

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolefv/

• Website: https://nicolefv.com/

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Nicole Forsgren

(05:09) The concept of developer experience (DevEx)

(08:33) Flow state and cognitive load in the age of AI

(12:02) Challenges in measuring productivity with AI

(21:19) The importance of developer experience for business value

(22:20) Common issues and solutions in developer experience

(26:49) Signs your eng team is moving too slow

(29:52) How AI is improving productivity

(33:32) Real examples of productivity improvements

(36:35) Introducing her new book, Frictionless

(43:40) How to get started building a DevEx team

(45:15) The impact of forming developer experience teams

(46:15) How to measure the impact of DevEx teams

(48:53) Measuring the impact of AI tools on productivity

(55:16) Survey design for developer experience

(57:59) Popular AI tools for developers

(59:08) Bringing a product mindset to DevEx improvements

(01:00:40) AI corner

(01:02:33) Lightning round and final thoughts

—

Referenced:

• How to measure and improve developer productivity | Nicole Forsgren (Microsoft Research, GitHub, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-measure-and-improve-developer

• DORA: https://dora.dev/

• The SPACE framework: A comprehensive guide to developer productivity: https://getdx.com/blog/space-metrics/

• Measuring developer productivity with the DX Core 4: https://getdx.com/research/measuring-developer-productivity-with-the-dx-core-4/

• Gloria Mark’s website: https://gloriamark.com/

• Taking Flight with Copilot: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3589996

• DevEx in Action: https://spawn-queue.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3639443

• CodeX: https://openai.com/codex/

• Devin: https://devin.ai/

• Abi Noda on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abinoda/

• DX is joining Atlassian: https://getdx.com/blog/dx-is-joining-atlassian/

• GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot

• Cursor: https://cursor.com/

• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell

• Gemini Code Assist: https://codeassist.google/

• Claude Code: https://www.claude.com/product/claude-code

• The AI-native startup: 5 products, 7-figure revenue, 100% AI-written code | Dan Shipper (co-founder/CEO of Every): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-every-dan-shipper

• Love Is Blind on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80996601

• Shrinking on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/shrinking/umc.cmc.apzybj6eqf6pzccd97kev7bs

• Ninja Creami: https://www.amazon.com/Ninja-NC301-CREAMi-Containers-Bundle/dp/B0BLGR5JPV/

• Jura coffee maker: https://www.amazon.com/Jura-Nordic-Automatic-Coffee-Machine/dp/B0CF65BFZ1/

—

Recommended books:

• Frictionless: https://developerexperiencebook.com/

• DevEx Workbook: https://developerexperiencebook.com/#workbook

• Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity: https://www.amazon.com/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599

• Back Mechanic: https://www.amazon.com/Back-Mechanic-Stuart-McGill-2015-09-30/dp/B01FKSGJYC

• How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything in Between: https://www.amazon.com/How-Big-Things-Get-Done/dp/0593239512/

• The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KBM82M4/

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

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