Five years after the SPACE framework was published, all six of its authors gathered in person for the first time at UC Irvine's Developer Experience Research Forum. Key reflections include: Activity metrics are newly controversial in the AI era as a single developer with AI agents can generate massive PR volumes that mean little in isolation; Communication and Collaboration is the most underinvested SPACE dimension and the only one where developers don't report AI-driven improvement; and the politics of productivity measurement are real, with data protection practices being essential. If updating SPACE today, the authors would add focus on Trust, Cognitive/Intent Debt, Deskilling, and AI Addiction. The core five dimensions have held up well, but the rubric should be rebalanced toward wellbeing and away from activity metrics.
