US developers are losing nearly 20 full work days each year to tech bugs and issues like tool failures, outages, workflow problems, and time spent as unofficial IT support.
A survey from Lokalise found these frustrations are taking up an average of three hours per week, equivalent to $8,000 a year in lost productivity per developer.
All told, 44% percent of developers have missed a deadline due to technical issues.
Glitches or software bugs are the biggest problem, cited by 55%, followed by platform or service downtime (47%), poor or missing documentation (35%), and tool integration issues (24%).
Other hassles included waiting on code reviews or support from colleagues, build or deployment failures, version control conflicts, and localization or language bugs.
A quarter said they spent more time debugging than actually writing code.
"Technical hiccups weren’t just small annoyances; they became daily productivity drains. Many developers - 60% - ended up building their own workarounds, only to spend nearly an extra hour each week maintaining those quick fixes," researchers said.
Developers are becoming “unofficial IT support”
More than six-in-ten developers voiced frustration at essentially becoming unofficial IT support workers. Devs said they find themselves regularly solving issues beyond their job description.
Just under half said they had to handle networking or connection issues, for example, while 39% that they had to explain documentation or workflows. Other unofficial support included handling problems with permissions or access, tool installation or configuration, and local environment setup issues.
Two-thirds said these support duties were affecting their productivity and focus.
"Technical disruptions may seem like small inconveniences in isolation, but together they represent a significant drag on developer productivity," researchers said.
"For CTOs, engineering managers, productivity leads, and even procurement teams, these findings reveal just how much hidden cost is tied to everyday inefficiencies. Missed deadlines, slowed rollouts, and wasted hours ripple across entire organizations, delaying product launches and inflating budgets."
No, AI isn’t making things easier
More than four-in-ten developers said that AI coding tools were slowing them down instead of helping, running counter to the common benefits touted by solutions providers.
"Others turned to AI for help, but results were mixed. Over two-in-five said they tried an AI coding tool that initially seemed promising but ultimately slowed them down," researchers noted.
"And when frustration peaked, 45% admitted to hiding behind 'in meetings' status updates, just to recover from tech failures."
As a result, organizations should be pickier when making tooling decisions, evaluating the platform’s uptime and stability to minimize outages and disruptions.
Ease of integration should also be a key focus for developer teams, the survey noted. They should make sure the tool connects smoothly with existing systems and workflows, and prioritize tools that offer intuitive design and self-onboarding to reduce setup time.
Elsewhere, developers need to be conscious of documentation, looking for clear, comprehensive resources that speed up troubleshooting and adoption; and consider the availability and responsiveness of vendor or community support when issues arise
"Addressing these issues through better infrastructure, clearer documentation, and proactive support can free up weeks of productivity every year, enabling teams to focus on innovation instead of firefighting," the researchers advised.
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