arXiv subjects

Nicole Davila

Publications and source records attributed to Nicole Davila.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Design-System-Aware Development with AI: Evaluating Productivity and Design Consistency

Design Systems (DS) help standardize front-end development, yet developers still face challenges when translating high-fidelity mockups into consistent, production-ready interfaces. Although AI-assisted tools have emerged as a potential solution, empirical evidence on their effectiveness within DS-centered workflows remains limited. This paper reports a controlled experiment conducted at a large Brazilian enterprise that compares manual development, DS-only development, and DS-aware AI-assisted development across Angular, iOS, and Android stacks. Results from two experimental cycles show that AI assistance significantly reduced time-to-delivery (by 46.7% to 69.4%), increased task completeness, and decreased performance variability. Analysis of break patterns further suggests reduced workflow friction and smoother task execution. These findings provide empirical evidence that DS-aware AI tools can significantly accelerate development, improve design fidelity, and yield practical benefits for industrial front-end workflows.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2026

AI Advocate: Educational Path to Transform Squads to the Future

This paper analyzes the strategic education process aimed at transitioning traditional software development squads into hybrid structures centered on collaborative work between humans and Artificial Intelligence (AI). In a context where human-AI collaboration can significantly increase productivity, this study explores how the upskilling of XPTO professionals, referred to as AI Advocates, acts as a catalyst for cultural and technical transformation. The objective is to present an experience report on the education and enablement process of AI Advocates within a private Brazilian technology company, highlighting key lessons learned and identified challenges.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2025

Toward Effective AI Governance: A Review of Principles

Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance is the practice of establishing frameworks, policies, and procedures to ensure the responsible, ethical, and safe development and deployment of AI systems. Although AI governance is a core pillar of Responsible AI, current literature still lacks synthesis across such governance frameworks and practices. Objective: To identify which frameworks, principles, mechanisms, and stakeholder roles are emphasized in secondary literature on AI governance. Method: We conducted a rapid tertiary review of nine peer-reviewed secondary studies from IEEE and ACM (20202024), using structured inclusion criteria and thematic semantic synthesis. Results: The most cited frameworks include the EU AI Act and NIST RMF; transparency and accountability are the most common principles. Few reviews detail actionable governance mechanisms or stakeholder strategies. Conclusion: The review consolidates key directions in AI governance and highlights gaps in empirical validation and inclusivity. Findings inform both academic inquiry and practical adoption in organizations.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2025

Affirmative Hackathon for Software Developers with Disabilities: An Industry Initiative

People with disabilities (PWD) often encounter several barriers to becoming employed. A growing body of evidence in software development highlights the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the field. However, recruiting, hiring, and fostering a supportive environment for PWD remains challenging. These challenges are exacerbated by the lack of skilled professionals with experience in inclusive hiring and management, which prevents companies from effectively increasing PWD representation on software development teams. Inspired by the strategy adopted in some technology companies that attract talent through hackathons and training courses, this paper reports the experience of Zup Innovation, a Brazilian software company, in hosting a fully remote affirmative hackathon with 50 participants to attract PWD developers. This event resulted in 10 new hires and 146 people added to the company's talent pool. Through surveys with participants, we gathered attendees' perceptions and experiences, aiming to improve future hackathons and similar initiatives by providing insights on accessibility and collaboration. Our findings offer lessons for other companies seeking to address similar challenges and promote greater inclusion in tech teams.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2021

A Systematic Literature Review and Taxonomy of Modern Code Review

Modern Code Review (MCR) is a widely known practice of software quality assurance. However, the existing body of knowledge of MCR is currently not understood as a whole. Objective: Our goal is to identify the state of the art on MCR, providing a structured overview and an in-depth analysis of the research done in this field. Method: We performed a systematic literature review, selecting publications from four digital libraries. Results: A total of 139 papers were selected and analyzed in three main categories. Foundational studies are those that analyze existing or collected data from the adoption of MCR. Proposals consist of techniques and tools to support MCR, while evaluations are studies to assess an approach or compare a set of them. Conclusion: The most represented category is foundational studies, mainly aiming to understand the motivations for adopting MCR, its challenges and benefits, and which influence factors lead to which MCR outcomes. The most common types of proposals are code reviewer recommender and support to code checking. Evaluations of MCR-supporting approaches have been done mostly offline, without involving human subjects. Five main research gaps have been identified, which point out directions for future work in the area.

cs.SE↗