Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
A 2025 Gearset survey reported by IT Pro found that 82% of surveyed UK organizations experienced software deployment delays, with delays averaging 3.8 months and an estimated cost of £107,000 per organization per year. Those are survey findings, not a universal rate or independently audited loss. The evidence points to a mix of skills shortages, limited automation capacity, delivery-process problems and gaps between business and technology teams.
What the reported figures do—and don’t—show
The 82% figure, 3.8-month average delay and £107,000 annual cost estimate come from Gearset research reported by IT Pro in 2025. They describe survey responses from UK organizations; they do not establish that every organization or project faces the same delay or cost. The £107,000 is the survey’s average estimate, not an independently audited accounting of losses. IT Pro’s report on the Gearset research
The skills finding is similarly a respondent-reported result: 87% of IT teams said they faced skills shortages, and more than two-fifths said shortages hindered implementing or maintaining automation tools. These figures indicate a reported capacity problem; they do not isolate skills shortages as the sole cause of delayed releases.
Why teams struggle to get releases out
Staffing and automation capacity
When teams lack the people or expertise to build, test and maintain delivery automation, they have less capacity to reduce manual work or keep release processes reliable. In the Gearset findings reported by IT Pro, respondents linked skills shortages to difficulty implementing or maintaining automation. That is an association reported by respondents, not proof that adding a particular tool or role will resolve delays.
Recommended Free Tools
#1 Best Overall
- This book is in perfect condition. It has never even been opened. It is straight from the store, unmarked, in pristine condition.
Testing and process problems
Kerry Proksel, Senior Director of Engineering at National Debt Relief, told IT Pro: “If a developer spends more than 5% of their time on deployment, it’s often due to quality issues like slow or incomplete tests, poor code standards, unclear processes, or environment drift.” This is an expert’s diagnostic observation, not a measured threshold showing that every team above 5% has the same problem. It highlights places to investigate: test speed and completeness, coding standards, documented release steps and consistency between environments. IT Pro’s report on the Gearset research
Leadership and delivery teams may see different problems
The same reporting found a marked gap in respondents’ perceptions of timeliness. Business leaders estimated that one in ten deployments were delayed and 40% were early; team leaders said 52% were delayed and 2% were early. These are differing views, not a single combined measurement. The article also reports that 54% of business leaders blamed AI tool development, while team leaders emphasized pipeline-automation gaps and skills. That disagreement does not establish AI development as the cause.
Rank #2
Without shared definitions of “delayed” and “early,” leaders may be judging against different dates, commitments or release stages. Jack McCurdy, DevOps Advocate at Gearset, argued: “Breaking the cycle of delays requires businesses to close the gap between leadership and IT teams, to ensure that deployments are considered as a core part of a business’ wider strategy.” IT Pro’s report on the Gearset research
What broader project research adds
A separate 2024 Boston Consulting Group survey covered global business and technical C-suite executives across 25 industries. Nearly half of respondents said more than 30% of their organizations’ technology development projects suffered delays or budget overruns. Its scope was internal software development, principally custom applications; it excluded large ERP implementations and cloud migrations. This result should not be combined with the UK Gearset deployment figures: the surveys cover different respondents and questions. Boston Consulting Group’s technology project research
BCG also reported survey associations between project success and several management practices:
- Technology projects had a reported 154% higher success rate when technology leaders were involved from the start in strategy development.
- Success rates were nearly 25% higher when meaningful incentives covered business improvement, timelines and predefined technical requirements.
- Success rates increased by up to 16 percentage points when effective early-warning tracking mechanisms were in place.
These are reported associations, not controlled proof that adopting any one practice will produce those gains. BCG found that 64% of respondents said their IT teams already used some form of agile development, and its article reported no correlation between methodology and project success. That does not mean agile fails in every situation; it cautions against treating a methodology label as a guarantee of delivery.
Rank #4
- Author: Bungay Stanier, Michael.
- Publisher: Page Two
- Pages: 244
- Publication Date: 2016-02-29
- Edition: 1
How organizations can identify and address bottlenecks
Agree on a shared delivery baseline
Business and technology teams should use the same definitions and review the same measures. For release performance, Gearset frames assessment around deployment frequency, change lead time, change failure rate and recovery time. For larger initiatives, track budget, timeline and the business outcome the project is intended to achieve. A shared baseline helps teams distinguish a late release from a disagreement about the schedule, and delivery speed from delivery quality. IT Pro’s report on the Gearset research Gearset’s State of Salesforce DevOps 2025
Trace delays to the work that is stuck
Examine where work waits or repeats: testing, approvals, manual pipeline steps, unclear handoffs, inconsistent environments or a shortage of people with the necessary skills. Proksel’s observation points to slow or incomplete tests, code standards, processes and environment drift as issues worth checking. The survey does not rank these causes for every organization, so teams need to use their own delivery data to locate the constraint.
Best Value
- Ideal for Gifting
- Ideal for a bookworm
- Compact for travelling
Set outcomes and stage scope realistically
For internal software initiatives, BCG’s recommendations support involving technology leaders early, defining business outcomes, setting realistic staged scope and using early-warning tracking for schedule and budget risks. A narrow first release can give teams a way to validate value before expanding. These are practical approaches suggested alongside survey findings, not interventions proven by the survey to guarantee success. Boston Consulting Group’s technology project research
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What Salesforce teams can learn from Gearset’s study
Gearset’s separate 2025 State of Salesforce DevOps report surveyed 464 quality-controlled respondents, 65% of whom were Gearset users. Its platform-specific findings need that context: Gearset sells a commercial DevOps platform, so its tool-related results should be read as vendor-produced survey evidence rather than independent causal proof. Gearset’s State of Salesforce DevOps 2025
In that survey, teams with the most consolidated toolset were five times more likely than teams with the largest number of tools to deploy in under an hour: 66% versus 12%. This is a reported association; it does not prove that consolidating tools alone makes deployments faster. Salesforce teams can also use the report’s DORA-style measures—frequency, lead time, change failure rate and recovery time—to assess throughput alongside stability. Nathen Harvey, DORA Lead at Google Cloud, said: “Our research demonstrates that throughput and stability complement one another but are not trade-offs.” Gearset’s State of Salesforce DevOps 2025
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
