How do you notice and prevent software developer burnout as a team lead or engineering manager? Burnout affects each person a bit differently. It often starts subtly and progresses incrementally. Developer burnout feeds into a vicious loop that can make your developers quit or even change career path. If not corrected, it can also lead to health consequences. The good news is that its onset can be identified, prevented, and rapidly alleviated. Let’s examine how.

Code churn is regarded by many software engineers as the best indicator of a code’s quality and defect density. Most engineers will also agree that code churn is good or bad relative to when and why it is taking place. But it is worth understanding in detail because it is 100x less costly to catch a defect during the design phase than catching it during maintenance.