The modern workplace is more demanding than ever before. Software developers have to work on a wide variety of cognitively demanding tasks, face constant context switches, work in distributed teams, and have blurred work-life boundaries. What does it mean to be productive in this context, and how can we best support developers in staying focused? In this talk, I will present findings from a range of studies on developers’ perceptions of productivity, and on the use of biometrics and computer interaction data to better understanding developers’ cognitive and emotional states. I will further talk about approaches to foster productive behaviour, including the use of computer interaction data and a traffic light-like LED lamp to reduce interruptions of professionals.

Thomas Fritz is an Associate Professor at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and received his PhD degree from the University of British Columbia, Canada. Thomas heads the Human Aspects of Software Engineering Lab at UZH that focuses on empirically studying software developers and on using personal and biometric data to improve developers’ productivity and well-being. For his research, he actively works with international companies, including Logitech, ABB, and Microsoft. He is an ACM and IEEE Member. Learn more about his group’s research at hasel.dev.