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Sensemaking Practices in the Everyday Work of AI/ML Software Engineering

Published: 25 September 2020 Publication History

Abstract

This paper considers sensemaking as it relates to everyday software engineering (SE) work practices and draws on a multi-year ethnographic study of SE projects at a large, global technology company building digital services infused with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities. Our findings highlight the breadth of sensemaking practices in AI/ML projects, noting developers' efforts to make sense of AI/ML environments (e.g., algorithms/methods and libraries), of AI/ML model ecosystems (e.g., pre-trained models and "upstream" models), and of business-AI relations (e.g., how the AI/ML service relates to the domain context and business problem at hand). This paper builds on recent scholarship drawing attention to the integral role of sensemaking in everyday SE practices by empirically investigating how and in what ways AI/ML projects present software teams with emergent sensemaking requirements and opportunities.

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  • (2024)Towards Role Definition in Agile AI-based System Development: Perspectives and ReflectionsProceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Software Quality10.1145/3701625.3701661(220-230)Online publication date: 5-Nov-2024
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  • (2024)Integrated multi-view modeling for reliable machine learning-intensive software engineeringSoftware Quality Journal10.1007/s11219-024-09687-z32:3(1239-1285)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024
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cover image ACM Conferences
ICSEW'20: Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM 42nd International Conference on Software Engineering Workshops
June 2020
831 pages
ISBN:9781450379632
DOI:10.1145/3387940
Publication rights licensed to ACM. ACM acknowledges that this contribution was authored or co-authored by an employee, contractor or affiliate of the United States government. As such, the Government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free right to publish or reproduce this article, or to allow others to do so, for Government purposes only.

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Publication History

Published: 25 September 2020

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Author Tags

  1. AI/ML
  2. Enterprise computing
  3. Ethnography
  4. Process Teories
  5. Sensemaking
  6. Software Engineering

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  • Refereed limited

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ICSE '20
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ICSE '20: 42nd International Conference on Software Engineering
June 27 - July 19, 2020
Seoul, Republic of Korea

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View all
  • (2024)Towards Role Definition in Agile AI-based System Development: Perspectives and ReflectionsProceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Software Quality10.1145/3701625.3701661(220-230)Online publication date: 5-Nov-2024
  • (2024)Making Sense of AI Systems DevelopmentIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2023.333885750:1(123-140)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2024
  • (2024)Integrated multi-view modeling for reliable machine learning-intensive software engineeringSoftware Quality Journal10.1007/s11219-024-09687-z32:3(1239-1285)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024
  • (2023)Students’ perceptions of integrating a contribution measurement tool in software engineering projects2023 IEEE 35th International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T)10.1109/CSEET58097.2023.00013(21-30)Online publication date: Aug-2023
  • (2022)Software Engineering for AI-Based Systems: A SurveyACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology10.1145/348704331:2(1-59)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2022
  • (2022)A software engineering perspective on engineering machine learning systemsJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2021.111031180:COnline publication date: 22-Apr-2022
  • (2022) At the crossroads of logics: Automating newswork with artificial intelligence — (Re)defining journalistic logics from the perspective of technologists Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/asi.2465674:3(354-366)Online publication date: 20-May-2022
  • (2021)On Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery for Automated Deployment of Machine Learning Models using MLOps2021 IEEE Fourth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Engineering (AIKE)10.1109/AIKE52691.2021.00010(25-28)Online publication date: Dec-2021

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