This special issue offers a range of perspectives on software engineering's future from professionals working around the world in diverse areas of software. The content ranges from detailed technical articles about the research areas behind today's trends to shorter essays and opinion pieces from folks working to sharpen the focus of their own visions of that future. The Web extra at https://youtu.be/LnSHGDl9O7U is an audio recording of st Shull and Anita Carleton of the Software Engineering Institute and Rafael Prikladnicki of Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul talking about the authors, articles, and discussions that went into the IEEE Software January/February 2016 theme issue on the future of software engineering.