Please note: This distinguished lecture will take place in DC 1302 and online.
Margaret-Anne Storey, Professor
Canada Research Chair in Human and Social Aspects of Software Engineering
Computer Science, University of Victoria
New tools are constantly reshaping software development, and generative AI is no exception. While productivity has often been measured by activity and outputs, research shows it is deeply influenced by human factors such as satisfaction, collaboration, and flow. In this talk, I review my work on developer experience and present the SPACE framework, a way of understanding productivity in modern software engineering.
I then explore how AI is changing development practices and roles. Although AI can improve speed, emerging evidence highlights variability in outcomes and new challenges in coordination and comprehension. These shifts raise important questions about how teams maintain shared understanding of complex systems.
Finally, I introduce the concepts of cognitive and intent debt, which capture how teams lose shared understanding and clarity of purpose, and discuss their implications for research, education, and practice in the age of AI.
Bio: Margaret-Anne Storey is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Victoria and a Canada Research Chair in Human and Social Aspects of Software Engineering. She is co-author of the SPACE framework and a leading researcher in Developer Experience (DevEx).
Her research focuses on how developers and teams understand complex software systems, and how tools, AI, and collaborative practices shape that understanding. Her recent work examines how generative AI is transforming software engineering by changing how understanding is created, shared, and maintained. She collaborates with industry partners including Microsoft and DX. She holds an honorary doctorate from Lund University.