When should you establish a Developer Productivity team?

The right time to establish a Developer Productivity (DevProd) team is a critical decision—moving too early can misallocate resources, while waiting too long can lead to inefficiencies that are hard to reverse.

This report examines when 20 companies—including DoorDash, Yelp, Disney, and Lattice—formed DevProd teams, what influenced their timing, and whether they felt they made the right call.

How companies decide when to invest

DevProd teams emerged at different stages—some as early as 50 engineers, others with thousands. Timing depended less on headcount and more on existing productivity challenges. Non-tech firms like Disney and Thomson Reuters delayed due to prior platform engineering investments, while companies like Lattice and Cash App found that waiting until 100 engineers felt late.

The triggers for creating a DevProd team

Many teams were formed in response to significant technological shifts—such as cloud migrations, architectural changes, or scaling challenges—when bottlenecks became unavoidable. Others emerged to standardize tools and processes after volunteer-led efforts proved insufficient.

Investing in developer experience before a team exists

Companies successfully improved DevProd before formalizing a team by embedding best practices into engineering culture. Atlassian, for example, mandated time for developer experience work, while data-driven insights and internal champions helped drive improvements even without a dedicated team.

Read this report for our findings from analyzing when 20 companies formed their first dedicated Developer Productivity team.