A staggering 70% of app developers are unhappy with the current amount of time available to their engineering teams for fostering innovation. In an industry where groundbreaking ideas and forward-thinking solutions are highly valued, this pronounced discontentment signals a significant hurdle for application development professionals.
Running low on time
As the demand for cutting-edge applications continues to surge, it is evident that current development processes must be reevaluated to address these pressing concerns and foster a more conducive environment for creative problem-solving.
Now, new research from Onymos, a developer of a Features-as-a-Service platform, based on the answers of over 100 app developers found that the majority are dissatisfied with the time they’re being given.
The majority (56%) of leaders reported that the workload for updating apps was increasing year by year.
The survey also discovered that nearly one-third of app development leaders (30%) expressed that their teams allocate approximately half of their time to maintenance tasks. That’s a significant amount of resources dedicated to managing existing applications, which leaves less room for innovative pursuits.
App developers aren’t being given enough time for innovation
Source: Onymos
Taking longer to innovate
Nearly half of the respondents (45%) reported being dissatisfied with the efficiency of their teams in this aspect. This dissatisfaction signifies a pressing need for streamlined processes and strategies that can expedite the development of new features, enabling organizations to remain competitive in an increasingly dynamic market.
Approximately 30% of leaders stated that it takes their teams between 4 to 6 months to complete such projects. An additional 28% reported even lengthier development periods, with more than 6 months required for completion. These findings underscore the challenges faced by organizations in meeting project deadlines and the need for improved efficiency in the application development lifecycle.
Innovation only takes a quarter of app developers’ time
Source: Onymous
“There is tremendous pressure from the market for companies to innovate and provide applications that provide real value for end-users through novel features and functionality. However, engineering teams and developers are unable to dedicate the appropriate amount of time required for these activities due to overwhelming workloads that primarily consist of maintenance and recouping technical debt,” said Shiva Nathan, Founder and CEO of Onymos. “Companies must find a way to make their development processes more efficient so that their teams can be truly innovative and focus on the activities that contribute to their application and company success.”
Key takeaways
- 70% of app developers are unhappy with the available time for innovation
- 30% of teams spend half their time on maintenance tasks
- 45% were dissatisfied with efficiency in developing new features; 30% take 4-6 months for new app development
