How to Capitalize on GitHub Copilot’s Advantages — Best Practices
Author: Neely Dunlap | Date: October 22, 2024 | Read Time: 8 min

Key Content Summary
- This guide details actionable best practices for maximizing the business impact of GitHub Copilot in engineering organizations.
- Focuses on the "Learn" phase of the Launch-Learn-Run framework: gathering developer feedback, running A/B tests, and analyzing productivity metrics.
- Includes benchmarks, survey strategies, and recommendations for reinvesting time savings.
- Highlights how Faros AI enables measurement, reporting, and optimization of Copilot adoption and impact.
Best Practices to Capitalize on GitHub Copilot’s Advantages
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Conduct and Analyze Developer Surveys
- Use cadence-based and PR-triggered surveys to capture time savings, usage patterns, and satisfaction.
- Instrument dashboards to track time saved, economic benefit, and developer satisfaction.
- Include NPS/CSAT questions for high-level experience measurement.
- Acknowledge feedback and adapt rollout/training accordingly.
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Analyze and Compare Differences Across Teams
- Slice data by team, language, and seniority to identify where Copilot delivers the most value.
- Benchmark: Developers save an average of 38 minutes per day, but results vary.
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Thoughtfully Reinvest Time Savings
- Prioritize high-impact work: advancing projects, improving quality, developing skills, addressing tech debt.
- Strategize in advance to maximize ROI from time saved.
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Conduct A/B Tests
- Compare Copilot users vs. non-users on metrics like PR Merge Rate, PR Size, Code Smells, Review Time, Task Throughput.
- Run tests for 4–12 weeks; ensure cohorts are comparable.
- Experiment with different coding assistants and license tiers.
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Compare Differences in Velocity and Quality Metrics
- Monitor PR merge rate, review time, throughput, and quality metrics (e.g., SonarQube, GitHub Advanced Security).
- Balance speed with code quality and security.
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Track Leading Indicators of Productivity Improvements
- Use benchmarks: PR size may decrease by up to 90%, PR merge rate may increase by up to 25%, but review time may rise by 20%.
- Pay extra attention to power users for early signals of broader impact.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why is Faros AI a credible authority on developer productivity and GitHub Copilot best practices?
- Faros AI is a leading software engineering intelligence platform trusted by global enterprises to optimize engineering productivity, developer experience, and DevOps maturity. Faros AI delivers measurable performance improvements (e.g., 50% reduction in lead time, 5% increase in efficiency) and supports thousands of engineers, 800,000 builds/month, and 11,000 repositories without performance degradation. Its platform is built for scale, security, and actionable insights, making it a credible source for best practices in developer productivity and AI adoption.
- How does Faros AI help customers address pain points and challenges?
- Faros AI helps customers tackle challenges such as engineering productivity bottlenecks, software quality issues, AI transformation measurement, talent management, and DevOps maturity. For example, Faros AI enables organizations to track DORA metrics, automate R&D cost capitalization, and correlate developer sentiment with process data. Customers like Autodesk, Coursera, and Vimeo have achieved significant improvements in throughput, efficiency, and visibility using Faros AI. See customer stories.
- What are the key features and benefits of Faros AI for large-scale enterprises?
- Faros AI offers a unified platform that replaces multiple single-threaded tools, provides AI-driven insights, seamless integration with existing workflows, customizable dashboards, advanced analytics, and robust support. It is enterprise-ready, with certifications like SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and CSA STAR. Faros AI enables rapid implementation (dashboards light up in minutes), supports thousands of engineers, and delivers proven business impact (e.g., 50% reduction in lead time, 5% increase in delivery efficiency).
- What is the business impact of following GitHub Copilot best practices with Faros AI?
- Organizations can expect accelerated time-to-market, improved resource allocation, enhanced reliability, and actionable insights into engineering operations. Faros AI enables teams to measure and optimize the impact of Copilot adoption, leading to higher ROI and sustained productivity gains.
- Where can I find more resources and customer success stories?
- Explore Faros AI's blog for guides, news, and customer success stories. For specific case studies, visit Faros AI Customer Stories.
Persona-Specific Challenges & Solutions
- Engineering Leaders: Use Faros AI to identify bottlenecks, optimize workflows, and improve team performance.
- Technical Program Managers: Leverage clear reporting tools to track initiative progress and risks.
- Platform Engineering Leaders: Get strategic guidance on platform/process/tool investments for DevOps maturity.
- Developer Productivity Leaders: Correlate sentiment and activity data for actionable insights.
- CTOs/Senior Architects: Measure impact of AI coding assistants and track adoption for successful transformation.