This episode originally aired in May, 2019.
If you’re in software development, Dr. Tom Zimmermann, a senior researcher at Microsoft Research in Redmond, wants you to be more productive, and he’s here to help. How, you might ask? Well, while productivity can be hard to measure, his research in the Empirical Software Engineering group is attempting to do just that by using insights from actual data, rather than just gut feelings, to improve the software development process.
On today’s podcast, Dr. Zimmermann talks about why we need to rethink productivity in software engineering, explains why work environments matter, tells us how AI and machine learning are impacting traditional software workflows, and reveals the difference between a typical day and a good day in the life of a software developer, and what it would take to make a good day typical!

077r - The productive software engineer with Dr. Tom Zimmermann

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Behind every emerging technology is a great idea propelling it forward. In the new Microsoft Research Podcast series, Ideas, members of the research community at Microsoft discuss the beliefs that animate their research, the experiences and thinkers that inform it, and the positive human impact it targets.  In this episode, host Gretchen Huizinga talks with Distinguished Scientist and Lab Director Abigail Sellen (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/asellen/). The idea that computers could be designed for people is commonplace today, but when Sellen was pursuing an advanced degree in psychology, it was a novel one that set her on course for a career in human-centric computing. Today, Sellen and the teams she oversees are studying how AI could—and should—be designed for people, focusing on helping to ensure new developments support people in growing the skills and qualities they value. Sellen explores those efforts through the AI, Cognition, and the Economy initiative—or AICE, for short—a collective of interdisciplinary scientists examining the short- and long-term effects of generative AI on human cognition, organizational structures, and the economy.Learn more:AI, Cognition, and the Economy (AICE) (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/collaboration/ai-cognition-and-the-economy-aice/) Responsible AI Principles and Approach | Microsoft AI (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/principles-and-approach/)  The Rise of the AI Co-Pilot: Lessons for Design from Aviation and Beyond (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-rise-of-the-ai-co-pilot-lessons-for-design-from-aviation-and-beyond/) The Myth of the Paperless Office (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/myth-paperless-office/)

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What’s Your Story: Jacki O’Neill

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Abstracts: May 6, 2024

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077r - The productive software engineer with Dr. Tom Zimmermann

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