AI has already boosted engineering teams, yet fully baked features still take almost as long as before. Some leaders push for rapid prototypes, but AI has not yet simplified the planning phase. In fact, AI can slow non‑coding work: AI‑written documents can be overly detailed, making distilling key points harder. Even assuming AI speeds new‑code writing by 3x, the overall schedule improves only modestly.

For a senior developer at a large tech firm, the day pre‑AI ran 8 h, post‑AI 6.75 h. Coding drops from 1.5 h to 0.5 h, but reading, debugging, design, reviews, documentation, testing, CI/CD, mentoring, and meetings remain largely unchanged. The net gain is 1.25 h, or about 15% of the day. A junior developer’s pattern is similar but with more coding time. Pre‑AI 8 h, post‑AI 6 h: coding falls from 2.75 h to 1.0 h, saving 2 h, roughly 25%. Juniors therefore receive a larger boost, yet leaders still claim AI replaces junior work.

The reality is that coding is only part of the job. Good developers must still parse vague requirements and build systems. AI will grow, but dramatic productivity jumps, especially for seniors, should not be expected now.