Sarah Inman
Authored Publications
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Creativity in software development is frequently overlooked, specifically
in the design of developer tools which often focus on productivity. This is likely
because creativity is not always seen as a goal in software engineering; in part,
this can be explained by the unique way in which software engineers relate to
creativity as centered around reusability rather than novelty. However, creativity is
a critical aspect of software engineering, and importantly, there is a clear
possibility for AI to impact creativity in both positive or negative ways. In this
article, we explore the differences in goals for designing AI tools for productivity
compared to creativity and propose strategies to elevate creativity in the software
engineering workflow. Specifically, we apply seamful design to AI powered
software development to consider the role of seamfulness in software
development workflows as a way to support creativity.
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Creativity, Generative AI, and Software Development: A Research Agenda
Victoria Jackson
Bogdan Vasilescu
Daniel Russo
Paul Ralph
Maliheh Izadi
Rafael Prikladnicki
Anielle Lisboa
Andre van der Hoek
2024
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Creativity has always been considered a major differentiator to separate the good from the great, and we believe the importance of creativity to software development will only increase as GenAI becomes embedded in developer tool-chains and working practices. This paper uses the McLuhan tetrad alongside scenarios of how GenAI may disrupt software development more broadly, to identify potential impacts GenAI may have on creativity within software development. The impacts are discussed along with a future research agenda comprising of six connected themes that consider how individual capabilities, team capabilities, the product, unintended consequences, society, and human aspects can be affected.
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Creativity is an essential part of software engineering. In this column, we describe our approach and insights into how software developers define creativity in their work. Our findings suggest that creativity in software engineering centers on the concepts of clever reuse over pure novelty.
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