Many engineering leaders find themselves looking at dashboards full of metrics, but still asking, "What does this actually mean for our output and efficiency?" It's a common problem when the tools you use are good at counting activity but not at measuring the actual effort behind the work.

This is where the difference between engineering analytics platforms becomes crystal clear. While tools like GetDX software provide reporting and metrics, many teams are discovering a more powerful approach. They're choosing Weave to get a fundamentally better understanding of their engineering process.

Why Teams Choose Weave over DX

Weave goes a critical step further by using AI to measure the one thing that truly matters: engineering effort. This moves you from simply observing data to making data-driven improvements.

Here’s a breakdown of why teams are making the switch:

1. AI-Powered Effort Measurement vs. Custom Reporting Some platforms offer customizable, SQL-powered reporting. This is powerful, but it puts the burden on you to ask the right questions and build the right queries to find deep insights. You're left digging for the story in the data.

We use a sophisticated AI model trained on expert-labeled pull requests to analyze the complexity and scope of every PR. This creates a standardized unit of engineering effort, giving you an objective measure of output. According to Weave, their model has a 0.94 correlation to actual engineering effort, which is significantly higher than traditional metrics like lines of code (which only have a 0.3-0.35 correlation). You get the real story, out of the box.

2. Daily, Actionable Insights for Managers An analytics tool is only useful if managers actually use it. Many platforms become a resource for quarterly reviews but don't help with the day-to-day job of keeping projects on track.

Weave is built for the daily stand-up. Managers use Weave's insights to facilitate data-backed conversations about workload, identify bottlenecks in the review process, and coach their teams effectively. Some managers have used Weave's insights to reset code review standards and have seen improvements in their team's output. It’s about real-time improvement, not just retroactive reporting.

3. Beyond DORA: Understanding Quality and Context DORA metrics are foundational, but they don't tell the whole story. A low Change Failure Rate is great, but what if it's because your team is only shipping minor changes?

Weave adds the "why" to your metrics. By analyzing the work itself, Weave can help you understand how engineering bandwidth is being allocated across new features, bug fixes, maintenance, and tech debt. It can also quantify time spent on code review and assess the usefulness of those reviews, providing a clear path to improving team velocity and code quality.

Weave vs. DX: A Quick Comparison

While both platforms offer core analytics, Weave provides a unique, AI-driven layer of intelligence that other GetDX competitors lack.

Moving from basic metrics to true, effort-based measurement is a game-changer. It’s the difference between knowing what happened and understanding why it happened—and what to do next.