Developer Experience Survey (DevEx)

Rate feedback loops, cognitive load and flow state, then fix the friction together.

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What is a developer experience survey?

A developer experience survey asks developers how their everyday work feels: how fast they get feedback, how hard it is to understand the code and tools, and how often they get to focus. This one is based on the DevEx framework from Abi Noda, Margaret-Anne Storey, Nicole Forsgren and Michaela Greiler, published in ACM Queue in 2023. It groups developer friction into three dimensions: feedback loops, cognitive load and flow state. Each person rates 12 statements privately. The team then looks at the results together and turns the lowest scores into actions in a retrospective. For a broader view of developer productivity, use the SPACE Framework Health Check. For software delivery, use the DORA Metrics Self-Assessment.

Dimensions

Feedback Loops

How quickly people get useful responses to their work, from tools and from each other.

  • Build & Test Speed

    Our builds and tests run fast enough that we rarely wait on them.

  • Review Turnaround

    Code reviews come back quickly enough to keep work moving.

  • Release Confidence

    We can release a change confident that it won't break something.

  • Getting Help

    When we're stuck, we know who to ask and get help quickly.

Cognitive Load

How much mental effort it takes to get work done in our code, tools and processes.

  • Understandable Code

    Our codebase is easy to understand and safe to change.

  • Finding Information

    We can find the documentation or information we need without hunting for it.

  • Helpful Tools

    Our development tools help us more than they get in our way.

  • Light Process

    Our processes, such as tickets, approvals and handoffs, are no heavier than they need to be.

Flow State

How often people can focus fully on meaningful work.

  • Deep Focus

    Most days we have long stretches of time to concentrate on our work.

  • Few Interruptions

    We're rarely pulled away from our work by interruptions or switching between tasks.

  • Clear Goals

    We know what we're working on and why it matters.

  • Autonomy

    We have real freedom to decide how we do our work.

When to use this health check

  • Quarterly, to see how the friction developers face day to day changes over time.
  • When developers say work feels slow or frustrating, but the delivery numbers don't show why.
  • Before and after a change to tools, platform, codebase or process, to check it helped the people doing the work.

Tips & tricks

  • Read each dimension on its own. A team can have fast builds and still lose most days to interruptions.
  • Put system data next to the results where you have it, such as build times or how long reviews wait. The DevEx paper recommends pairing what developers report with data from your systems.
  • Keep it anonymous, and never use the scores to compare or rank individuals.
  • Pick one or two of the lowest statements and turn them into actions in your next retrospective. Run the survey again to see whether they worked.
  • Pair it with the SPACE Framework Health Check when you also want to look at satisfaction, collaboration and output.

Frequently asked questions

What is a developer experience survey?
A short survey that asks developers about the friction in their everyday work, such as waiting on builds and reviews, confusing code or constant interruptions. The results show where the team loses time and energy. Run it as a team and the lowest scores become a list of things to fix.
What questions should a developer experience survey ask?
Ask about what developers run into every day: how long they wait on builds, tests and reviews, how easy the code and docs are to understand, and how often they can focus without being interrupted. Keep each statement short and about the team, not individuals. This template has 12, four for each DevEx dimension.
What are the three dimensions of developer experience?
Feedback loops are the speed and quality of responses to what developers do, from tools such as builds and tests and from people such as code reviewers. Cognitive load is the mental effort a task takes, which goes up with complex code, unfamiliar tools and poor documentation. Flow state is being fully focused on the work, which depends on few interruptions, clear goals and autonomy.
How often should we run a developer experience survey?
Quarterly suits most teams. It leaves time to act on one round of results before the next. If you run it more often than you can make changes, people tend to stop responding.
What's the difference between DevEx, SPACE and DORA?
DORA measures software delivery, such as how often you deploy and how long a change takes to reach production. SPACE is a broad model of developer productivity across five dimensions. DevEx focuses on what developers feel day to day: feedback loops, cognitive load and flow. TeamRetro has a check for each: DORA, SPACE and this one.
Who created the DevEx framework?
Abi Noda, Margaret-Anne Storey, Nicole Forsgren and Michaela Greiler, in 'DevEx: What Actually Drives Productivity,' published in ACM Queue in 2023. The statements in this template are TeamRetro's own. TeamRetro isn't affiliated with the authors or with DX.

Based on Abi Noda, Margaret-Anne Storey, Nicole Forsgren and Michaela Greiler, 'DevEx: What Actually Drives Productivity,' ACM Queue 21(2) (2023).

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