Your CEO Sees 5x. Your Engineers See a Longer Review Queue.

In December 2025 and January 2026, two surveys were conducted. WRITER and Workplace Intelligence surveyed 1,200 C-suite executives, with 87% stating their AI super-users are at least 5x more productive than non-AI users. Harness surveyed 700 engineering practitioners and managers, finding that 81% experienced increased time in code review since AI coding tools emerged, with 28% reporting a rise of more than 30%.

There is a noticeable discrepancy between the perspectives of CEOs and engineers. A quarter of developers believe their leaders do not understand their challenges, a 19-point increase from a year prior. Upwork discovered a similar divide among all employees, with 96% of C-suite leaders expecting AI to boost productivity, while 77% of AI users reported increased workloads, with half unsure of how to deliver expected gains.

Despite developers saving time and reporting productivity gains, they simultaneously cite inefficiencies from organizational issues, information hunting, tool adoption, and team collaboration. Executives, on the other hand, see real time savings but are unaware of the lost time. Metrics used by leadership emphasize coding output while engineers measure the costs of maintenance, incidents, and unexplained issues.

The gap between these viewpoints stems from differing time horizons, units of measure, and risk perceptions. Executives focus on short-term gains and credit AI for increased delivery, while engineers grapple with the long-term implications of instability, burnout, and organizational inertia. Bridging this gap requires a shared understanding of both perspectives and a commitment to addressing the unseen challenges faced by engineers.