UI Development in Mixed-Ability Software Engineering Teams

Mauli Pandey, Sharvari Bondre, Vaishnav Kameswaran, Hrishikesh Rao, Sile O'Modhrain, and Steve Oney

EDI 2023

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Abstract

The tools and techniques that software engineers use to collaborate are critical in deciding who can contribute to software projects and the roles they can play within those teams. We conducted two qualitative studies to better understand the strategies that mixed-ability teams — specifically teams where some team members identify as having a visual impairment and some do not — use to collaborate on user interface (UI) development. The consistent growth of UI developer job roles has made many programmers seek UI engineering jobs. It is important to better understand the accessibility of the profession and identify ways to make it more inclusive. In this chapter, we report on the challenges in tool usage, programming practices, and communication that programmers with visual impairments encounter in the specific application area of interactive UI programming as they collaborate with their colleagues. We conclude with recommendations for building more inclusive software engineering teams by fostering communication and help-seeking interactions and we derive implications for UI frameworks that aim to support accessible application development.

Cite this paper (BibTeX)

@incollection{pandey2023development,
  author    = {Pandey, Mauli and Bondre, Sharvari and Kameswaran, Vaishnav and Rao, Hrishikesh and O'Modhrain, Sile and Oney, Steve},
  title     = {{UI} Development in Mixed-Ability Software Engineering Teams},
  booktitle = {Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Software Engineering},
  year      = {2023}
}