Understanding and Developing Software for People: Reflections on a 45-Year Career

Abstract: This talk is inspired by many of the lessons I learned over the past 45 years in a career where I first developed software for scientists as end users and, later, researched end users’ needs, including software developers as end users. Topics include cognitive and behavioral aspects of software developers, such as individual differences, as well as particular methods, such as visualization, field studies, and cognitive support. The topics are related to the research fields of software-engineering (SE), human-computer interaction (HCI), computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), and, to a limited degree, Artificial Intelligence (AI). My work over the years has progressed with the help of many wonderful colleagues and students and I will do my best to acknowledge them.

Bio: Dr. David Redmiles is a Professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS). He received his PhD in Computer Science in 1992 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Before his doctoral studies, he worked as a research staff member at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), formerly the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). His research integrates the areas of software engineering, human-computer interaction, and computer-supported cooperative work. Over the years, his research group has investigated themes of cognitive support for software developers; issues of trust and emotion affecting software teams; behaviors of participants in social software development platforms; global software engineering; end-user software development; and more. He is a member of the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society. He was designated an ACM Distinguished Scientist in 2011 and a Fellow of Automated Software Engineering in 2009. From 2004 to 2011, he chaired the Department of Informatics at UCI and from 2017 to 2023, he served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (faculty and personnel) in ICS.