How AI-Assisted Planning Reduce Cognitive Load | Valiantys

Today’s developers are expected to deliver products faster than ever. But siloed systems, manual processes, continuous context switching, and increasing regulatory requirements are driving developers into complete cognitive overload. 

For developers, cognitive overload doesn’t just slow software delivery; it actively introduces risk. As developers juggle more tasks and responsibilities, essential security guardrails are often overlooked in favor of speed, creating security debt and unnecessary risk. To empower developers to deliver on both speed and compliance, teams need a new approach. 

By incorporating Atlassian’s AI-powered Jira and DX into their workflows, development teams can eliminate friction, unlock end-to-end code visibility, and streamline incident handoffs. Ultimately, this reduces cognitive load, freeing developers to focus on delivering real business value safely, securely, and at scale. 

What’s Slowing Developers Down?

In an ideal world, developers focus solely on their core priorities: coding and software delivery at scale. But in reality, developers’ attention is pulled in many directions. Atlassian’s State of Developer Experience Report 2025 found that developers spend 84% of their workweek outside their integrated development environment (IDE). Often, this looks like:

• Searching for resources and finding information: Without a single source of truth, developers are stuck searching for the information they need, rather than focusing on adding business value. 

• Fragmented workflows and technical debt: Complex, siloed workflows lead developers to spend more time on maintenance and code hygiene. 

• Context switching: Switching back and forth between various tools, tasks, and environments takes developers out of their flow, negatively impacting productivity.  

• Manual tasks: Low-value manual tasks like organizing Jira tickets, updating statuses, and compiling documentation waste time and resources.   

• Constant updates and meetings: Instead of shared context and self-service, developers provide constant updates and attend multiple meetings to stay aligned. 

These overhead tasks add up: 50% of developers lose 10 or more hours per week to inefficiencies and non-coding tasks. Without a solid foundation, this friction persists throughout the software development lifecycle, increasing cognitive load and risk, while limiting scalability and innovation.

Where Speed and Compliance Collide

While the idea of “move fast and break things” works for startups, it doesn’t extend to enterprises. Larger companies need governance, strategy, and long-term thinking to remain competitive and secure. 

When developers spend more time on non-coding tasks, they quickly lose focus on what keeps their environments safe and code secure. Basic steps get skipped, vulnerabilities sneak in, and more time is spent on rework than strategic thinking. This kicks off a never-ending cycle: escalating threats drive more complex regulations, putting IT and development teams in a constant state of catch-up, further increasing cognitive load and security gaps. 

To break this cycle and address complex regulatory requirements effectively, businesses require more than just tools. They need a solution that connects and streamlines workflows to enable real-time, end-to-end visibility and secure-by-design patterns, turning wasted effort back into strategic delivery. 

The Foundation and Tools for Modern Development

Legacy systems are technical debt and require more of the developers who work with them. To keep speed and remain compliant, development teams need a modern, integrated solution. By leveraging Atlassian’s AI-powered tools, like Jira and DX, and the System of Work, development teams gain end-to-end code visibility, centralized planning, and streamlined incident handoffs, reducing friction and cognitive load. And because Atlassian complies with industry standards in every region, development teams can ensure their environments and tools are safe, secure, and compliant.

DX: Data-Driven DevEx

DX is a specialized, research-driven developer intelligence platform. DX acts as a partner to development leaders, providing data and insights to help companies continuously improve DevEx, eliminate friction, enhance service and team health, and boost developer flow. 

In DX, leaders get:

• A platform that connects to Atlassian’s System of Work and tools teams use every day to avoid context switching and tool sprawl.  
• Full visibility into developer experience, including how developers work and their sticking points, to streamline workflows and reduce cognitive load. 
• Real-time actionable insights into developer productivity and end-to-end SDLC analytics to identify and address bottlenecks.  
• Measurements of GenAI adoption and impact to see what is and isn’t working, allowing companies to maximize AI investment and ROI. 
• A way to quickly determine root cause analysis for faster resolution. 
  
  

Jira: Freeing Developers to Build Great Software

Similarly, Jira offers teams AI-powered project management so developers can focus on outcomes, rather than high-effort, low-value manual tasks. Jira also connects teams and workflows, reducing friction throughout the lifecycle for developers. 

Jira gives development teams: 

• A centralized control hub that reduces context switching, time spent searching for information, and unnecessary meetings.
• Clear views of dependencies, work progress, and blockers to prevent bottlenecks and eliminate workflow friction.
• Automation to assign and create tasks and link related issues to streamline incident handoffs for faster resolution.
• Custom templates for testing, audit trails, and standardizing operations.
• End-to-end visibility by connecting software configuration management and CI/CD tools to track items across the delivery pipeline. 
  
  

The Power of Precision

As an experienced implementation and integration expert for the entire Atlassian ecosystem, including Jira and DX, Valiantys can empower organizations to define Golden Paths and enhance platform engineering. With Valiantys’ precision workflows, companies can transform their DevEx. Instead of complexity and friction, development teams can build faster and more efficiently with AI-powered automation and seamless toolchain integration. 

To eliminate workflow inefficiencies and achieve development velocity, Valiantys: 

• Unifies developer workflows by connecting fragmented systems and tooling, allowing developers to focus on core priorities. 
• Creates scalable dev automation with Rovo agents and custom Forge applications to reduce manual, repetitive tasks. 
• Implements measurable approaches to AI adoption to deliver ROI and real productivity gains with existing Atlassian ecosystems.
• Modernizes software delivery pipelines with strategic consulting and custom solutions to eliminate technical debt, develop Golden Paths, streamline workflows, and accelerate delivery safely and securely. 

With the right tools and partner, developers can focus on innovation that accelerates delivery, reduces cognitive overload, and powers next-level DevEx. 

Ready to transform your DevEx? Chat with our team today.