Cognitive biases in software development

• Published in: Communications of the ACM 2022-04, Vol.65 (4), p.115-122
• Main Authors: Chattopadhyay, Souti, Nelson, Nicholas, Au, Audrey, Morales, Natalia, Sanchez, Christopher, Pandita, Rahul, Sarma, Anita
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied computing; Bias; Cognitive ability; Collaborative and social computing; HCI design and evaluation methods; Human computer interaction (HCI); Human-centered computing; Law, social and behavioral sciences; Psychology; Software development; Software engineering
• ISSN: 0001-0782; 1557-7317
• DOI: 10.1145/3517217

Cognitive biases are hardwired behaviors that influence developer actions and can set them on an incorrect course of action, necessitating backtracking. Although researchers have found that cognitive biases occur in development tasks in controlled lab studies, we still do not know how these biases affect developers' everyday behavior. Without such an understanding, development tools and practices remain inadequate. To close this gap, we conducted a two-part field study to examine the extent to which cognitive biases occur, the consequences of these biases on developer behavior, and the practices and tools that developers use to deal with these biases. We found about 70% of observed actions were associated with at least one cognitive bias. Even though developers recognized that biases frequently occur, they are forced to deal with such issues with ad hoc processes and suboptimal tool support. As one participant (IP12) lamented: There is no salvation!