Developers are at the heart of software creation, driving innovation and shaping the future of technology. However, the tools, environments, and processes that support developers are often not optimized for their needs, leading to friction, inefficiencies, and reduced satisfaction. This seminar explores how we can transform the developer's journey, placing their experiences, productivity, and well-being at the forefront. We will address key questions about improving developer-centric tools, workflows, and environments, fostering innovation, and enhancing collaboration.

This event will bring together experts in academia and industry to discuss the following challenges and opportunities:

• Redefining Developer Experience in the Age of AI. AI-powered tools like Copilot and ChatGPT are reshaping how developers work, from automating repetitive tasks to advanced code generation. How can we design, evaluate, and integrate these systems to enhance—not hinder—the developer's workflow, creativity, and control?

• Measuring Developer Experience and Impact. Metrics often focus on outputs like lines of code or issues resolved, but these miss the bigger picture of developer experience and satisfaction. How can we develop meaningful measures that capture more complex aspects of developer experience such as: productivity, creativity, and well-being without creating undue pressure on the developers and teams?

• Fostering Flow in Software Development. Achieving a state of flow—where developers are fully immersed in their work—is crucial for productivity and creativity. How can tools, processes, and team practices be designed to minimize interruptions, reduce context-switching, and promote deep focus? How can AI be leveraged to help encourage flow?

• Prioritizing Well-Being and Mental Health in Software Development. The demands of software development, including tight deadlines, long hours, and complex problem-solving, can take a toll on mental health. How can organizations, tools, and practices better support developers’ well-being, reduce burnout, and foster a healthier work-life balance? How to ensure the use of AI does not exacerbate the problem given the increased output generation.

• Balancing Individual and Team Productivity and Collaboration. Software development is deeply collaborative, requiring teamwork and shared understanding alongside individual contributions. How can we optimize processes, tools, and practices to support team productivity while balancing the unique needs, skills, and working styles of individual developers? How can teams adapt to human-AI interactions, ensuring that AI complements human collaboration rather than disrupting trust, creativity, and communication within the team?

Meeting format:

The meeting will be highly interactive. It will include a mix of short lightning talks by the attendees, followed by breakout sessions on common topics of interest. We will have extended presentations from industrial participants on how developer experience is considered in industry. To enhance group engagement and creativity we will use Liberating Structures, which are simple, adaptable methods that foster inclusive, collaborative participation in problem-solving and decision-making. We will closely involve the participants in the design of the agenda and the definition of the desired meeting outcomes (e.g., collaborations, books, publications, special issues, follow-up meetings, etc.).

Academic impact:

We expect to have lively discussions about emerging topics and challenges related to developer experience in the age of AI. The industry participants will provide input on what topics are most important to focus on. We also expect that attendees will be able to identify potential collaborators for research projects and make connections to companies that they could otherwise not connect to. The collaborations will push the boundaries of empirical research and lead to high-profile publications. In addition, we expect to come up with guidelines and best practices for research in this domain, which can also be beneficial for industry and for teaching.

Industrial impact:

Industrial participants can benefit greatly from this seminar by learning and discussing existing state-of-the-art research that can be directly applied to products. Providing an opportunity for industry participants to connect with academics in small group settings is a unique platform for finding potential collaborators for joint projects and grants.