Understanding Task Enjoyment in Software Development: A Mixed-Methods Study on Practitioners From Poland and Brazil
This program is tentative and subject to change.
Happiness and enjoyment are important factors in software practitioners’ daily work, possibly enhancing motivation, productivity, and software quality. However, there exist few studies on practitioners’ preferences for software development tasks. The goals of this study were: (1) to find which software development activities were the most enjoyable with a focus on practitioners’ roles, (2) to find what factors impact this enjoyment, and (3) to assess whether tasks are avoided due to their dislike. To explore these, we performed a 4-phase mixed methods study using questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups with 173 practitioners of diverse backgrounds. Two ranked lists were obtained: (1) tasks depending on enjoyment level, (2) factors causing task enjoyment and dislike. Additionally, we found that in most cases, the enjoyment level did correlate with the time spent on tasks. The task most likely being avoided due to dislike is maintenance. Based on our findings, we proposed a set of improvements that practitioners may use to improve their work environment. Additionally, researchers may use our findings to prioritize future research on practitioner happiness, enjoyment, motivation, and productivity.
This program is tentative and subject to change.
Thu 16 AprDisplayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change
16:00 - 17:30 | |||
16:00 15mTalk | Breaking the Alphabet: Rethinking File Ordering in Code Review Research Track Md Shamimur Rahman University of Saskatchewan, Zadia Codabux University of Saskatchewan, Chanchal K. Roy University of Saskatchewan | ||
16:15 15mTalk | “Still in the Loop”: Coping with Technostress in DevOps Teams and the Impact of GenAI SE In Practice (SEIP) Dharneeka Jeyam Bern University of Applied Sciences, Anna Wiedemann Bern University of Applied Sciences, Gerhard Schwabe University of Zurich, Kadircan Güney Zurich University of Applied Sciences | ||
16:30 15mTalk | Opportunities and Barriers for AI-Supported Quality Planning in the Automotive Domain: An Interview Survey at Volkswagen SE In Practice (SEIP) Henrik Waschke Volkswagen AG & Harz University, Jacob Krüger Eindhoven University of Technology, Thomas Leich Harz University of Applied Sciences, Germany | ||
16:45 15mTalk | Product Manager Practices for Delegating Work to Generative AI: ``Accountability must not be delegated to non-human actors'' SE In Practice (SEIP) Mara Ulloa Northwestern University, Jenna L. Butler Microsoft Research, Sankeerti Haniyur Microsoft Corporation, Courtney Miller Carnegie Mellon University, Barrett Amos Microsoft Research, Advait Sarkar Microsoft Research and University of Cambridge, Margaret-Anne Storey University of Victoria | ||
17:00 15mTalk | Understanding Task Enjoyment in Software Development: A Mixed-Methods Study on Practitioners From Poland and Brazil SE In Practice (SEIP) Klara Borowa Warsaw University of Technology, Bartłomiej Rasztabiga Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Control and Computation Engineering, Hubert Soroka Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Control and Computation Engineering, Maciej Tymoftyjewicz Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Control and Computation Engineering, Rodrigo Rebouças de Almeida Federal University of Paraiba | ||
17:15 15mTalk | Group versus Individual Review Requests: Tradeoffs in Speed and Quality at Mozilla Firefox SE In Practice (SEIP) Matej Kučera None, Marco Castelluccio Mozilla, Daniel Feitosa University of Groningen, Ayushi Rastogi University of Groningen, The Netherlands | ||