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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

Japanese

この論文は、動きのあるソフトウェア開発の活動と、進歩が発展するための熟練した機器の活動を見るのに役立ちます開発者動きのデータ理論を導入します。我々は、進歩をサポートするために、進歩をどのように相互に結びつけるかをより明確に見ることができるように、開発者動きは、目標に向かって進歩と前進の動きを開発者の経験として定義します。我々の理論は、流れ状態、動き、動き、動機の関連構造を分散させます。理論は、開発者の知的経験がどのようにAIフローズで変化しているかを調査するための豊富な経験的なレンズを研究者に提供します。進歩を促進するために、開発者は記憶に生きている作業コンテキストを構築

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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