Sep 2026· Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Abstract
This paper investigates the application of Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) to optimize software development processes. Traditional software development methodologies often struggle with adaptability and efficiency, particularly in complex projects. This research proposes a novel approach leveraging MARL to dynamically adjust and refine the development workflow. The core idea involves modeling the software development process as a multi-agent system, where each agent represents a distinct stage or activity. These agents learn optimal strategies through interaction and reward signals, leading to improved development efficiency and quality. We present a framework for formulating this problem, detailing the agent architecture, state space, action space, and reward function. The effectiveness of the MARL approach is demonstrated through a theoretical analysis and conceptual design, highlighting its potential to overcome limitations of static, rule-based methodologies. Future work will focus on implementing and testing this framework within a simulated software development environment.
This publication proposes a definition and a classification of agile software development approaches and analyses ten software development methods that can be characterized as being "agile" against the defined criterion.
P. Abrahamsson, O. Salo, Jussi Ronkainen et al.· arXiv.org· 727 citations· ⚡54
The study shows that agile practices improve both informal and formal communication, but indicates that, in larger development situations involving multiple external stakeholders, a mismatch of adequate communication mechanisms can sometimes even hinder the communication.
M. Pikkarainen, Jukka Haikara, O. Salo et al.· Empirical Software Engineeri...· 401 citations· ⚡48
The results indicate that software engineering work practices are chosen opportunistically, adapted and configured to provide value under the constrains imposed by the startup context.
Nicolò Paternoster, Carmine Giardino, M. Unterkalmsteiner et al.· Information and Software Tec...· 394 citations· ⚡54
The results show that the embedded industry has been able to apply agile methods in its development processes and that the appreciation of the agile methods and their individual practices appears to increase once adopted and applied in practice.
O. Salo, P. Abrahamsson· IET Software· 238 citations· ⚡9
Consequences of happiness and unhappiness that are beneficial and detrimental for developers' mental well-being, the software development process, and the produced artifacts are found.
D. Graziotin, Fabian Fagerholm, Xiaofeng Wang et al.· Journal of Systems and Softw...· 236 citations· ⚡13
The Mobile-D approach is briefly outlined here and the experiences gained from four case studies are discussed, which helped develop an agile development approach for mobile application development.
P. Abrahamsson, Antti Hanhineva, H. Hulkko et al.· Conference on Object-Oriente...· 225 citations· ⚡18
AI is making software generation faster, but speed does not remove the need for expertise. As more work is delegated to AI, tacit knowledge may become one of the most important human advantages in software engineering. The post Beyond Prompt Engineering: The Role of Tacit Knowledge in Software Engineering appeared first on GPT-Lab.
MIT News · Artificial Intelligence· news.mit.eduSep 9, 2026
A weeklong summer workshop brought higher education faculty to campus to explore how AI and machine learning materials can be adapted for their classrooms.