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How GitHub Copilot helped SAP reimagine the developer experience

Science & Technology

Introduction

Good evening, GitHub Universe! I'm Sumit Chetty, the head of tools India at SAP, and joining me is Dr. Tobias Shima, the head of developer experience. Today, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of GitHub Universe by sharing our story of how GitHub Copilot is enhancing developer experience at SAP and our journey of AI programming.

Defining Developer Experience at SAP

At SAP, developer experience centers on three key components: efficiency, effectiveness, and motivation. Efficiency refers to performing tasks with minimal friction and waste. Effectiveness involves connecting with the right markets, and motivation emphasizes retaining a skilled and satisfied team. Our approach relies heavily on good practices such as DevOps, Agile, and Lean methodologies.

Human-Centered Focus: Our mission is human-centered, recognizing that behind every piece of technology is a developer with unique challenges. Given SAP’s scale, with over 100,000 employees, we prioritize individual experiences while ensuring value flows seamlessly between teams.

Our AI Journey

Over the past year and a half, we've been evaluating AI pair programming tools to reimagine developer experience. We identified GitHub Copilot as our optimal choice after an extensive evaluation process against other contenders.

Key Features of GitHub Copilot:

  • Intelligent autocomplete suggestions
  • Code generation from natural language prompts
  • Creating unit tests to enhance test coverage
  • Bug detection and code review assistance
  • Refactoring capabilities and documentation generation

Copilot provides all these features out of the box, greatly simplifying the daily tasks of our developers.

Implementation and Evaluation

After selecting Copilot, we engaged various corporate functions to ensure compliance and readiness to adopt the tool. Starting with a pilot group of 500 users, we gathered extensive feedback and data over three months, ultimately leading to a broad rollout across our organization beginning November 2023.

Through a series of surveys and continuous feedback gathering, we could assess user experiences comprehensively. Key findings from our early adopters revealed:

  • 93% found Copilot easy to use
  • 84% felt it sped up their development
  • 81% reported increased productivity
  • 88% noted a decrease in repetitive tasks

When we introduced Copilot Chat, the positive metrics increased further, with 93% preferring to continue using it.

Scaling Up

After the successful rollout of GitHub Copilot, we have onboarded over 18,000 developers by September 2024. This included gathering insights on AI-powered suggestions, line of code acceptance rates, and the benefits realized by the developers at SAP.

Impact of GitHub Copilot: In the period from January to September 2024, Copilot delivered 23.6 million suggestions, leading to the acceptance of 9.3 million lines of code into SAP's products.

With every phase of our rollout, we’ve been focusing on data-driven continuous improvement based on feedback from developers.

Lessons Learned

Our experience has highlighted the importance of a human-centered approach, effective measurement, and careful scaling. Each stakeholder's input, from developers to legal teams, played a crucial role in achieving success.

In summary, GitHub Copilot has significantly transformed the developer experience at SAP, allowing for greater speed, efficiency, and security. It's been described by our teams as a tool that brings back creativity and flow into programming—a vital element of our software development process.

For any additional questions or insights regarding our journey with GitHub Copilot, feel free to reach us on LinkedIn or during the speakers’ area sessions. Thank you for your attention, and it’s been an honor to share our experiences at GitHub Universe!

Keywords

  • GitHub Copilot
  • SAP
  • Developer Experience
  • AI Pair Programming
  • Efficiency
  • Effectiveness
  • Motivation
  • Human-Centered Design
  • Productivity Metrics

FAQ

Q1: What is GitHub Copilot?
A1: GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered pair programming tool designed to assist developers by providing intelligent code suggestions and enhancing the overall software development experience.

Q2: How has SAP benefitted from using GitHub Copilot?
A2: SAP has experienced improved developer productivity, reduced time spent on repetitive tasks, and enhanced code quality with the adoption of GitHub Copilot.

Q3: What were the key metrics collected during the pilot implementation?
A3: Key metrics included ease of use, perceived productivity, speed of development, and reduction in repetitive tasks, with notable percentages indicating user satisfaction.

Q4: How many developers are currently using GitHub Copilot at SAP?
A4: As of September 2024, over 18,000 developers at SAP have been onboarded to GitHub Copilot.

Q5: What future improvements does SAP anticipate with GitHub Copilot?
A5: SAP aims to continue refining the developer experience by leveraging feedback, improving AI capabilities, and integrating new tools that enhance productivity and innovation across teams.