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The Psychology of Software Teams

routledge.com

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Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#31

Post by a_c »

Aurornis wrote: post #8

I feel like there could be a lot of value in understanding the psychology of teams and using it to build an environment where they can thrive. However, every person I've worked with who was into these workplace-psychology books started thinking of themselves as expert diagnosticians of other people's psychology. Every personality or problem got mapped back to a scenario from a book they read, even when it wasn't a go…

People learn and relearn the core concepts from different paths. A recent trend due to coding agent is that people are learning software engineering is not about syntax and frameworks. It is just the way it is. People build up concepts with things they already understand. The same happens when someone doesn't use a book. It just went implicit and way harder for you to find the magic combo.

Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#32

Post by [deleted] »

a_bonobo wrote: post #29
Aurornis wrote: post #8

I feel like there could be a lot of value in understanding the psychology of teams and using it to build an environment where they can thrive. However, every person I've worked with who was into these workplace-psychology books started thinking of themselves as expert diagnosticians of other people's psychology. Every personality or problem got mapped back to a scenario from a book they read, even when it wasn't a go…

Doesn't that happen with any first-year psychology or med-student, too? You have some basic knowledge of what could happen, which therefore means that it does happen, right now, here. It normally goes away with more experience and exposure, and yeah, some personal growth.

[deleted]

Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#33

Post by pjmorris »

datadrivenangel wrote: post #14

One of the best pieces of work in this genre is Gerald Weinberg's the psychology of computer programming. https://geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Programming_Psychology.html

And if that book doesn't appeal, Dr.Weinberg (he'd prefer 'Jerry' though) has an entire sub-genre of really useful books on humans doing software development. Three other favorites: 'How to Become a Technical Leader', the four-volume 'Quality Software Management', and the click-bait-titled but terrific 'The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving & Getting Advice Successfully'.

He joined IBM in the 50's, led the design of the telemetry system for NASA's Mercury project in the 60's, aimed to put humans at the center of software development with 'The Psychology of Computer Programming', and spent the rest of his life working on helping people do software development well together. IMO, any time you spend digging in to his large catalog will be well repaid.

Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#34

Post by rjsw »

a_bonobo wrote: post #29
Aurornis wrote: post #8

I feel like there could be a lot of value in understanding the psychology of teams and using it to build an environment where they can thrive. However, every person I've worked with who was into these workplace-psychology books started thinking of themselves as expert diagnosticians of other people's psychology. Every personality or problem got mapped back to a scenario from a book they read, even when it wasn't a go…

Doesn't that happen with any first-year psychology or med-student, too? You have some basic knowledge of what could happen, which therefore means that it does happen, right now, here. It normally goes away with more experience and exposure, and yeah, some personal growth.

Not just first-year. I don't think psychologists ever lose their urge to perform experiments on any people they meet.

Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#35

Post by joshcsimmons »

yikes. this is very out of touch with current trends.

i respect writing a book - ive written three, but if there’s a time when most tech leadership cared LESS about understanding software team psychology, i havent seen it.

truly a sad state of things. i love this topic and plan to read the book but i dont expect most people to care - the only mantra in software rn is to go as fast as possible on shitty features and burn people out.

of course above assessment is about the general state of big tech co’s. some pockets of sanity out there still at smaller companies but not many!

Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#36

Post by krystalgamer »

Aurornis wrote: post #8

I feel like there could be a lot of value in understanding the psychology of teams and using it to build an environment where they can thrive. However, every person I've worked with who was into these workplace-psychology books started thinking of themselves as expert diagnosticians of other people's psychology. Every personality or problem got mapped back to a scenario from a book they read, even when it wasn't a go…

co-worker started reading "Extreme Ownership" and it improved his mindset and approach to problems. at the same time became extremely unbearable towards own team. if someone was complaining it was hard to get follow-up on a task from someone external he'd jump in and say "you're not owning it".

the tipping point for me was when he started preaching "Never Split the Difference". he'd gotten so cocky to the point he'd start meetings with "I already know how this is gonna end".

i don't mind these books as long as they come from a place of need, but it seems the main crowd are wannabe master manipulators. also, they can often be distilled to a couple chapters, not sure why they're so long.

Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#37

Post by rramadass »

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology_of_programming;

1) Human Technology (online journal, papers) - https://ht.csr-pub.eu/index.php/ht/index

2) Psychology of Programming Interest Group (papers) - https://www.ppig.org/

3) Cognitive Biases in Software Engineering: A Systematic Mapping Study - https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.03869

Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#38

Post by SmirkingRevenge »

Aurornis wrote: post #8

I feel like there could be a lot of value in understanding the psychology of teams and using it to build an environment where they can thrive. However, every person I've worked with who was into these workplace-psychology books started thinking of themselves as expert diagnosticians of other people's psychology. Every personality or problem got mapped back to a scenario from a book they read, even when it wasn't a go…

So many of those books are basically like those "Here's one weird trick to succeed at X" style articles in book length form.

Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#39

Post by xutopia »

smiggels10 wrote: post #20

I really do not recommend to buy the ebook in this web shop. Its the worst UX I have ever seen in an online shop. Normally you would pay and then receive a link to download. Here it goes like this: - you receive an email: Please create an account on our website, you will benefit a lot from it - then another email: If you want to get the book you just payed for, you must register first and then enter this code: #20 di…

I'm unable to purchase it there even though it is way cheaper than getting it elsewhere because of blocking bugs with my Canadian physical address. Postal code which is valid is considered invalid... my city name which includes a dash is considered invalid. The postal code is blocking.

Re: The Psychology of Software Teams

#40

Post by StilesCrisis »

krystalgamer wrote: post #36
Aurornis wrote: post #8

I feel like there could be a lot of value in understanding the psychology of teams and using it to build an environment where they can thrive. However, every person I've worked with who was into these workplace-psychology books started thinking of themselves as expert diagnosticians of other people's psychology. Every personality or problem got mapped back to a scenario from a book they read, even when it wasn't a go…

co-worker started reading "Extreme Ownership" and it improved his mindset and approach to problems. at the same time became extremely unbearable towards own team. if someone was complaining it was hard to get follow-up on a task from someone external he'd jump in and say "you're not owning it". the tipping point for me was when he started preaching "Never Split the Difference". he'd gotten so cocky to the point he'd…

The problem is when someone writes one viral blog post, then decides to pad it out and sell it as a book. If you can find the original post, you get the entire substance for free in ten minutes.
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