Accelerating software development lifecycles on AWS with generative AI

Chetan Makvana, Amazon Web Services

April 2025 (document history)

Growing demand for high-quality software is driving organizations to constantly seek ways to accelerate their software development lifecycle (SDLC). As organizations strive to remain competitive, it is critical to reduce the time to market while maintaining or improving product quality. To meet these challenges, the software development experience must evolve and use cutting-edge technologies, methodologies, and practices that streamline processes and empower software development teams to be more productive and creative. The emergence of the next generation development experience marks a significant shift in how software is conceived, built, tested, and deployed. It integrates a variety of capabilities—including cloud-native development, AI-driven automation, advanced project management, collaborative tools, and DevSecOps—that collectively enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the SDLC.

At the forefront of this transformation is the rise of generative AI in software engineering. According to Gartner, 40% of platform engineering teams will use AI to augment every phase of the SDLC by 2027, compared to only 5% in 2023. This report also states that software engineering leaders must now prepare to adopt generative AI across a broader range of areas that are critical to the development process. In another report, McKinsey research shows that companies with a higher developer velocity index grow revenue 4–5 times faster, have 60% higher shareholder returns, and are 55% more innovative. By embracing generative AI beyond just code generation, organizations can unlock new level of efficiency, productivity, and innovation in their software development workflows. This can reduce manual effort, surface insights, and augment human expertise.

Objectives

This strategy document outlines a framework, foundational capabilities, use cases, best practices, and success metrics that can help you accelerate your SDLC with generative AI. It describes how to effectively integrate generative AI across all development stages in order to improve product quality and efficiency.

This strategy document can help you and your organization achieve the following objectives:

• Implement a framework, foundational capabilities, use cases, best practices, and success metrics to accelerate your SDLC with generative AI.

• Effectively integrate generative AI across all development stages to improve product quality, release velocity, and development efficiency.

• Adapt to the next generation of software development by incorporating cutting-edge AI technologies, methodologies, and practices that streamline processes and empower development teams.

Intended audience

This strategy document is for IT leaders, engineering managers, chief technology officers, and software development teams who want to accelerate their software development lifecycle by applying generative AI to their development practices.