Developer Satisfaction Survey/2024/Quality
πΒ Developer Satisfaction 2024 Report
π Quality
edittl;dr
- Technical debt β Most respondents (56%) say the current level of technical debt is high, although the percentage is lower than last year.
- Technical debt effects β More than two thirds (70%) say technical debt did affect their productivity in the past year, although the percentage is lower than last year.
- Code quality effects β Almost two thirds (66.5%) said code quality did affect their productivity in the past year, although this percentage is lower than last year.
- βTechnical debtβ β Open answers took issue with the term βtechnical debtβ.
# Perception of technical debt
We asked survey takers, βConsidering the software projects youβve contributed to in your role as a member of the Wikimedia Developer Community this past year: What is your perception of the current level of technical debt?β
- The majority (56%) of respondents perceived the technical debt level as high
- 19% perceived the level as neither high nor low
- 13% were unsure
- 12% perceived the level as low
# Effects of technical debt on productivity
We asked survey takers, βIn the past year, how has technical debt affected your productivity as a member of the Wikimedia developer community?β
- The majority of respondents (69.9%) said technical debt affected their productivity
- 15.1% said it had no effect
- 15.1% were unsure
# Perception of code quality: first-party code
We asked survey takers, βHow would you rate the quality of the code you maintain in your role as a member of the Wikimedia developer community?β
- 41% rated the quality of code they maintain as high
- 31% rated the quality as neither high nor low
- 15% were unsure
- 13% rated the quality as low
# Perception of code quality: third-party code
We asked survey takers, βHow would you rate the quality of third-party code (libraries, language ecosystems) that you depend on in your role as a member of the Wikimedia developer community?β
- 46% of respondents rated the quality of third-party code as high
- 24% rated the quality as neither high nor low
- 19% were unsure
- 11% rated the quality as low
# Effects of code quality on productivity
We asked participants, βIn the past year, how has code quality affected your productivity as a member of the Wikimedia Developer Community?β
- The majority of respondents (66.5%) said code quality affected their productivity
- 22.6% were unsure
- 11% said it had no effect on their productivity
# Feedback
We asked participants, βPlease share any other feedback you may have about code quality and technical debtβ Some themes emerged from the answers.
Meta
Many took issue with the term βtechnical debtβ suggesting we should reconsider this question in future surveys.
"Technical debt" is just another word for "code that exists".
Stewardship
[poor quality code is] usually in the codebases that *nobody actively maintains* but are nonetheless essential.