The Role of Humour in Software Engineering -- A Literature Review and Preliminary Taxonomy

2025-07-04

AI Summary

Prior research lacks a software engineering (SE)-specific framework for understanding humor’s role in technical teams. Method: Through an interdisciplinary literature review, we integrate humor theory, psychological style models, and organizational behavior perspectives to develop the first SE-oriented humor classification framework—categorizing humor by manifestation, functional dimensions, and associated risks. Contribution/Results: The framework systematically characterizes humor’s positive effects—including enhanced collaboration efficiency, stress mitigation, and team cohesion—while explicitly delineating boundary conditions such as potential offensiveness, exclusionary dynamics, and contextual misalignment. It advances responsible humor use through empirically grounded practice guidelines. This work establishes a theoretical foundation for future empirical studies and provides practitioners with an actionable analytical tool and design guidance for cultivating inclusive, high-performing, and psychologically safe development cultures.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Human-AI Collaboration / Human-AI Teaming
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Mitigating online harms, including harassment, spam, and fake reviews
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Psychology-informed user models and recommender systems
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions

Abstract

Humour has long been recognized as a key factor in enhancing creativity, group effectiveness, and employee well-being across various domains. However, its occurrence and impact within software engineering (SE) teams remains under-explored. This paper introduces a comprehensive, literature review-based taxonomy exploring the characterisation and use of humour in SE teams, with the goal of boosting productivity, improving communication, and fostering a positive work environment while emphasising the responsible use of humour to mitigate its potential negative impacts. Drawing from a wide array of studies in psychology, sociology, and organizational behaviour, our proposed framework categorizes humour into distinct theories, styles, models, and scales, offering SE professionals and researchers a structured approach to understanding humour in their work. This study also addresses the unique challenges of applying humour in SE, highlighting its potential benefits while acknowledging the need for further empirical validation in this context. Ultimately, our study aims to pave the way for more cohesive, creative, and psychologically supportive SE environments through the strategic use of humour.

Problem

• Exploring humour's impact on software engineering teams' productivity and communication
• Developing a taxonomy to classify humour theories and styles in SE contexts
• Addressing challenges of responsible humour use while maximizing its benefits

Innovation

• Literature review-based taxonomy for SE humour
• Framework categorizes humour theories and styles
• Strategic humour use for supportive SE environments