Recursion reduces tech debt by 33% with DX
6x + return on investment in DX
Recursion, a biotech company using AI to discover new medicines, faced growing challenges in managing developer productivity as its engineering organization scaled. Leadership noticed friction in workflows and a slowdown in delivery but lacked clarity on the root causes. The Infrastructure and Tooling team also needed to align platform efforts with developer priorities and track progress towards reducing friction.
Without clear data, decision-making relied on anecdotes and assumptions. “Multiple times, our team assumed we should focus on a specific problem—only to realize something else was a bigger issue,” explains Maureen Makes, Director of Engineering.
Recursion lacked a systematic way to identify the top areas impacting developer experience and focus their resources on the highest-value opportunities. “We needed to go beyond assumptions and understand what was really holding developers back,” says Makes.
Recursion used DX to measure friction across their engineering organization. DX surfaced both qualitative data as well as quantitative metrics, offering a clear view of the issues developers faced. The data revealed technical debt as a leading source of friction, with documentation emerging as another critical challenge.
This informed “The Year of Tech Debt,” a company-wide initiative. Each quarter, every engineering squad chose a technical debt project, and shared progress at all hands meetings. The initiative culminated in a hack week that Makes describes as an “enormous success.” To address documentation challenges, a working group was established to standardize practices and improve quality across teams.
DX was instrumental in the success of the initiative. Makes adds: “DX helped us frame our initiatives around what developers really wanted to see improved. It wasn’t just about fixing problems—it was about fixing the right problems.”
Within a year, Recursion reduced technical debt by more than 33%. Documentation scores improved by 2x, allowing devs to work faster and more precisely. These efforts resulted in faster releases, better collaboration, and increased developer satisfaction.
Looking ahead, Recursion continues to use DX to identify and prioritize engineering challenges. “DX has become an integral part of how we plan and measure success,” Makes concludes. “It’s not just a tool—it’s a foundation for how we drive meaningful change.”
