Requirements are All You Need: The Final Frontier for End-User Software Engineering

Abstract

What if end users could own the software development life cycle from conception to deployment using only requirements expressed in language, images, video or audio? We explore this idea, building on the capabilities that Generative Artificial Intelligence brings to software generation and maintenance techniques. How could designing software in this way better serve end users? What are the implications of this process for the future of end-user software engineering and the software development life cycle? We discuss the research needed to bridge the gap between where we are today and these imagined systems of the future.