Advance your understanding of how software developers work, learn, and thrive with evidence-based research focused on developer satisfaction and success.
Who we are
Our Approach
We’re a team of scientists studying how software teams work, learn, and innovate. We publish original research projects that use the best science on developer productivity, learning, and wellbeing to provide models for human-centered software development that radically progress developer experience. We’re on a mission to share developers’ voices with the world!
Evidence-based research
Our Research
Browse some of our latest research focused on effective software teams.
Understanding and Mitigating Code Review Anxiety
Carol Lee, PhD & Cat Hicks, PhD
Learn how code review anxiety impacts developers and organizations, hindering collaboration and productivity.
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Voices of Developer Thriving: How Software Jack-of-all-Trades Eli Mellen promotes Developer Thriving
Kristen Foster-Marks
Setting agreements around ways of working, learning culture as a secret work obsession, and the connection between task-scoping and motivation
Brilliant Blobs - A Developer Success Lab Comic
Carol Lee, PhD
If you want to mitigate AI Skill Threat, create learning and belonging cultures instead of contest cultures!
Voices of Developer Thriving: How Senior Software Engineer Kathy Lavoie builds for Developer Thriving
Kristen Foster-Marks
Freedom to learn, teams that achieve beyond expectations, and the human component of crafting software.
The New Developer Whitepaper
Cat Hicks, PhD, Carol Lee, PhD, Kristen Foster-Marks, MA
Based on the latest research from the Developer Success Lab, this white paper shares a human-centered, evidence-based framework to help developers thrive during this transition to AI-Assisted coding.
AI in Software Development: Results of a pilot study of an intervention to overcome AI Skill Threat
Kristen Foster-Marks
As AI is increasingly being used in software development, AI Skill Threat is emerging as a risk to developer experience.
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Thriving Blobs - A Developer Success Lab Comic
Carol Lee, PhD
If you’re trying to improve developer experience, focus on developer thriving, instead of happiness or satisfaction.
Why I Created an Institutional Review Board at Pluralsight
Carol Lee, PhD
I recently spent the last few months getting a federally registered Institutional Review Board (IRB) together at Pluralsight.
Busting Transformation Myths
Cat Hicks, PhD
Watch how to foster an environment that emphasizes problem-solving, collaboration, and genuine developer growth.
Improving Team Health
Carol Lee, PhD
In this webinar, we share research-backed insights on fostering a positive environment, ensuring mental well-being, and building trust among team members.
The New Developer
Cat Hicks, PhD, Carol Lee, PhD, Kristen Foster-Marks, MA
The New Developer research paper introduces a framework engineering leaders, teams, and developers can use as they adapt to AI-assisted software development and navigate this new era.
Generative AI Adoption Toolkit
Kristen Foster-Marks, MA, Carol Lee, PhD, Cat Hicks, PhD
Harness the Developer Success Lab’s findings around AI Skill Threat, Identity Change and Developer Thriving to help your teams adopt AI-assisted coding tools and practices in a human-centered, evidence-based way.
Healthy software metrics: How successful software teams measure their work
Developer Success Lab
Engineering leaders are facing pressure from board leadership to quantify engineering performance. This has led companies like Twitter and Salesforce to rely on severely flawed metrics such as lines of code written.
Where We’re Going Wrong with Developer Productivity - LeadDev London 2023
Cat Hicks, PhD
Are you writing enough code, keeping up with the latest technology, or driving product progress? Developer productivity is a top priority for developers, engineering leaders, and businesses.
4 Tips Developers Can Use In Their Next Job Hunt + Example Interview Questions
Cat Hicks, PhD
We’ve studied what we can learn from how those teams succeed, and we’ve found that Developer Thriving includes four factors: Agency, Learning Culture, Motivation & Self-Efficacy, and Support & Belonging.
How Organizations can Measure Productivity to Drive Engineering Success
Cat Hicks, PhD, Carol Lee, PhD, Morgan Ramsey
We propose differentiating between measures of production, productivity, and performance as an important step for engineering organizations, and one that helps to suggest next steps for improving how we measure the success of engineering teams.
LeadDev Flashback: How Hackathons Increase Team Morale
Carol Lee, PhD
Carol Lee breaks down how hackathons can increase belonging, decrease anxiety and help people imagine new identities in tech at LeadDev in New York.
How Visibility Leads to Higher Performing Teams and Better Business Outcomes
Cat Hicks, PhD, Carol Lee, PhD, Morgan Ramsey
We dive more deeply into how visibility contributes to improved engagement, performance, and productivity from both individuals and team members.
How Successful Hackathons Can Increase Team Development
Carol Lee, PhD & Cat Hicks, PhD
Decades of psychological and behavioral science consistently show that it’s the intangible outcomes that not only drive the tangible outcomes, but also key long-term sociocognitive processes for employees such as motivation, performance, and productivity.
Quantity is for Production, Quality is for Performance
Carol Lee, PhD & Cat Hicks, PhD
Moving past misconceptions about how we define & measure productivity to unlock sustainable software team success.
Why engineering management needs an evidence science
Cat Hicks, PhD
You hear a lot about the outcomes and the frictions being felt by other teams, but you know that your job is to understand what’s really happening with this team.
Whitepaper: The Developer Thriving Framework
Cat Hicks, Carol Lee, Morgan Ramsey
Based on the latest research from the Developer Success Lab, this whitepaper will dive into how to foster a thriving environment for software developers.
Developer Thriving: the four factors that drive Software Developer Productivity across industries
Cat Hicks, Carol Lee, Morgan Ramsey
Read the first major research project from the Developer Success Lab: The four factors that drive software developer productivity across industries.
Measuring developer experience: The superpower of today
Cat Hicks
As a social scientist and Pluralsight’s VP of Research Insights, Cat Hicks examines how employees respond to their work environment, colleagues, managers, and other senior leaders.
How to give feedback for performance in tech
Cat Hicks
When it comes to the developer experience, how you give feedback is as important as the metrics you’re delivering.
Building long term developer success through positive experiences
Carol Lee
Research shows that there are two key factors that increase behavioral engagement, while boosting mental wellness: self-efficacy and value building.
PDF downloads
Publications
Download the full-text PDF reports for each research report published by the Developer Success Lab.
Understanding and Effectively Mitigating Code Review Anxiety
Lee, C. S., & Hicks, C. M. (2024, April 16). Understanding and Effectively Mitigating Code Review Anxiety.
“Is Our Organization Actually Measuring Productivity?”
Lee, C. S., Ramsey, M., & Hicks, C. (2023). Is Our Organization Actually Measuring Productivity? How Contrasting Organizational and Individual Measures of Engineering Success is an Opportunity to Drive Engineering Transformation. arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.11030
“Is Our Organization Actually Measuring Productivity?”
Lee, C. S., Ramsey, M., & Hicks, C. (2023). Is Our Organization Actually Measuring Productivity? How Contrasting Organizational and Individual Measures of Engineering Success is an Opportunity to Drive Engineering Transformation. arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.11030
The Four Factors that Drive Software Developer Productivity
Hicks, C., Lee, C. S., Ramsey, M. Developer Thriving: The four factors that drive Software Productivity across industries [research report]. The Developer Success Lab at Flow (2023)
How Successful Hackathons Increase Belonging, Reduce Anxiety, and Create New Self-Concepts for Future Skill Growth
Lee, C. S. & Hicks, C. How Successful Hackathons Increase Belonging, Reduce Anxiety, and Create New Self-Concepts for Future Skill Growth: Research Insights from Hacking the Pluralsight Hackathon. [research report]. The Developer Success Lab at Flow (2023)
Cat Hicks, PhD
Social & Data Scientist
Cat Hicks is a social science leader in tech with expertise leading applied research teams to explore complex areas of human behavior, empirical intervention, and evidence science.
Cat is a research affiliate in STEM education research at UC San Diego and an advocate for increasing education access. She holds a Ph.D. in Quantitative Experimental Psychology from UC San Diego, was an inaugural Fellow in the UC San Diego Design Lab, and has led research at organizations such as Google and Khan Academy.
Carol Lee, PhD
Clinical Research Scientist
Carol Lee leverages her expertise in mental health and thoughtful measurement to study how developers cope and thrive through stressful circumstances. Carol has over a decade of experience leading academic and industry research in clinical health, measurement, and human behavior.
Carol serves as a research fellow at the Integrated Behavioral Health Research Institute and as a clinical science advisor for Bravely Mental Health. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from UMass Boston.
Kristen Foster-Marks
Principal Developer Experience Engineer
Kristen Foster-Marks is passionate about applying evidence-based science to help software teams learn, work, and thrive. She combines eight-years in software development and engineering leadership with extensive knowledge in learning science, pedagogy, and classroom-based research to develop innovative workshops, interventions, and curricula that promote effective behavior change on software teams.
Kristen actively contributes to the engineering community through writing articles and giving conference talks, aiming to demystify empirical research on software teams for those best equipped to utilize its insights.
Announcements
In the Media & Community
Catch up on all the latest updates with the Developer Success Lab team
Watch Cat Hicks, PhD and the Developer Success Lab researchers for the Developer Success Summit
The Developer Success Lab researchers have a conversation with engineering managers about common challenges and success stories in transforming the teams they manage.
Join Cat Hicks at LeadDev London on June 27th
How I learned to stop worrying about Developer Productivity and love Developer Thriving
Developer Success Summit Series: The four factors that drive Software Developer Productivity across industries
Cat Hicks, PhD and the Developer Success Lab researchers present their findings from the Developer Thriving: the four factors that drive Software Developer Productivity across industries study.
How to Thrive, Belong, and Lead in the Tech World
Cat Hicks, PhD presents a framework based on her team’s research on over 1,200 developers called Developer Thriving, which engineering leaders can use to create high-performing development teams that are happier and more collaborative.