The 2025 DORA Report

State of AI-assisted software development

The 2025 DORA Report

AI is rapidly reshaping what’s possible in software engineering. Organizations are harnessing AI to accelerate delivery cycles, unlock new levels of productivity and empower teams to focus on high-value innovation.

The 2025 DORA report captures this momentum: companies adopting AI are realizing gains in individual effectiveness, throughput, quality and overall performance.

"The real value of an engineer is no longer just in writing code. It's in prompt engineering, solution architecture and validating AI-generated outputs. When an organization’s structure and processes don’t support this shift, AI simply becomes a faster way to create chaos''

Chris Westerhold, Thoughtworks’ Global Practice Director of Engineering Excellence

Key insights

AI is an amplifier, not a fix

AI amplifies existing strengths and weaknesses. The best returns come from fixing the organizational system (platforms, workflows), not just deploying tools.

Platform engineering is the AI foundation

Quality internal platforms are the essential foundation for AI success, significantly boosting organizational performance.

Systemic practices unlock AI value

Successful AI adoption demands fixing the system, with user-centric focus critical to amplify the benefits of AI — and prevent a negative impact on team performance.

Speed increases, but instability persists

AI adoption is universal, boosting individual effectiveness and delivery speed. However, it still correlates with higher instability, proving that systems must adapt.

Article

An engineering leadership perspective

Chris Westerhold points out that while individual productivity soars, AI also exposes instability in weak systems. Sustainable success requires treating AI as an organizational transformation. He argues the solution is building a strong engineering foundation centered on platform engineering and prioritizing developer experience.

Read this article