Study Group: The Psychology of Software Teams, Chapter 2

Join us for the next session of our study group, where we're reading and discussing Dr. Cat Hicks' book The Psychology of Software Teams.
Our topic for this session is Chapter 2: Breaking Up with Brains-in-Jars.

This is an informal book club: we meet to share our thoughts, questions, and half-formed reactions to what we've read. Everyone is welcome, whatever your relationship to the software engineering world and however long you've been in it. The only preparation needed is reading the chapter for that session.
We'll shape the group and its format together, taking inspiration from the book club guide the author put together herself: https://catharsisinsight.com/book-club-guide

Want to go deeper?
For Chapter 2, Cat recommends two pieces of companion material:

• Her LeadDev talk from 2023 "Where we’re going wrong with developer productivity" — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLJCut3VwwQ
• Lee, Hicks, & Foster-Marks (2024), “My code is shit”: Negative automatic thoughts and outcomes of a behavioral experiment for code review anxiety.

Reflection prompts
The guide includes two "Try it" prompts for this chapter. Sit with them for a few minutes before the session if you can.

• Look at your team through the lens of all three traps (Brittle Productivity, Lone Genius, and Chilly Climate), then pick whichever one feels most salient right now. Name one concrete, observable sign of it (for example, a sprint that “succeeded” but left everyone wrecked; a story where one person is framed as the only source of breakthroughs; a cue about whose identity is really welcomed in the room). Then identify one small step you could take this week that would help break the thinking trap.
• Look at a tech community you’re part of (an open-source project, a meetup, a Discord or forum, a professional network) through the same three traps. Pick whichever trap feels most salient. Brittle Productivity might appear in unpaid maintainers burning out while everyone praises the project’s “amazing momentum.” Lone Genius might show up in who gets thanked in the release notes versus who did the coordination and community work. Chilly Climate might be present in a community’s inside jokes, its default assumptions about who’s “actually technical,” or who stops showing up to events. Name one concrete sign of the trap, and then write down one thing you personally could do this month to interrupt it.

— from Dr. Cat Hicks' book club guide: https://catharsisinsight.com/book-club-guide

About the series
The current plan is to have one session per chapter and meet every other week, giving everyone plenty of time to prepare. We also have a discord channel to keep the discussion going between the meetings: https://discord.gg/FApmy7zYkn

See you there!