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Theory of Developer Momentum: The Developer's Experience of Progress and the Craft of Maintaining Motion

Arty Starr, Keith Mann, Margaret‐Anne Storey · 2026 · arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2610.24935 · cited by 0 works (OpenAlex) · open-access PDF

Arabic

في هذه المقالة ندرك أن نظرية التطور البيولوجي التي تساعدنا على رؤية نشاط تطوير البرمجيات في الحركة وتجهيزات المهنية التي تنتج من خلالها التقدم. ندرك أن نظرية التطور البيولوجي هي تجربة التطوير من التقدم والحركة المستقبلية نحو أهداف مهمة. تعزز النظرية لدينا التكوينات ذات الصلة من الحالة النووية والتحرك والرغبة، حتى نتمكن من رؤية بشكل أكثر صرامة العلاقات بينهم وكيف يتم تكوينها من أجل دعم التقدم. من أجل بناء التقدم، قام المتطوعون بتطبيق سياق العمل في الذاكرة، أصبحت غامضة في حوارات عميقة مع مجموعة متنوعة من العناصر المعرفية المتفوقة من 12 شخصاً،

Machine translation (Meta M2M100); the English original follows.

Abstract

This paper introduces a Theory of Developer Momentum that helps us see the activity of developing software in motion and the skilled craft through which progress unfolds. We define Developer Momentum as the developer's experience of progress and forward motion toward the goal of a task. Our theory disentangles the related constructs of flow state, momentum, and motivation, so we can more clearly see the relationships between them and how they interweave to support progress. In order to make progress, developers build up working context in memory, become immersed in a cognitive puzzle, and gain clarity through motion in uncertain terrain. The theory provides researchers with a rich experiential lens to investigate how developers' cognitive experiences are shifting in emerging AI workflows. Building on prior grounded theory work, we conducted in-depth interviews with a theoretically sampled subset of 12 professional developers, and eight feedback interviews to evaluate resonance and investigate how the theory translates to agentic AI workflows. We followed a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach to construct a theory grounded in empirical data. Our theory contributes a novel paradigm for seeing the motion of developing software at multiple scales and resolutions, seeing the living capacities that support this motion, and expanding what becomes available for improvement, skilled judgment, and craft.

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Topics: Grounded theory, Craft, Motion (physics), CLARITY, Experiential learning, Context (archaeology)

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