Tools to Improve Interruption Management

Interruptions carry a high cost, especially to software developers. To prevent unnecessary interruptions, several technologies are being explored that can help manage the timing of interruptions, such as displaying the interruptibility of a worker to their peers. Relatively simple algorithms utilizing computer interaction data have been created and used successfully in the workplace, while technology using bio-metric emotion recognition to detect the interruptibility of a user is also being developed

Coding vs presenting: a multicultural study on emotions

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and compare emotions perceived while coding and presenting for software students, comparing three different countries and performing also a gender analysis. Design/methodology/approach: Empirical data are gathered by means of the discrete emotions questionnaire, which was distributed to a group of students (n = 174) in three different countries: Norway, Spain and Turkey. All emotions are self-assessed by means of a Likert scale. Findings: The results show that both tasks are emotionally different for the subjects of all countries: presentation is described as a task that produces mainly fear and anxiety; whereas coding tasks produce anger and rage, but also happiness and satisfaction. With regards to gender differences, men feel less scared in presentation tasks, whereas women report more desire in coding activities. It is concluded that it is important to be aware and take into account the different emotions perceived by students in their activities. Moreover, it is also important to note the different intensities in these emotions present in different cultures and genders. Originality/value: This study is among the few to study emotions perceived in software work by means of a multicultural approach using quantitative research methods. The research results enrich computing literacy theory in human factors

Sensing and Supporting Software Developers' Focus

Software developers regularly have to focus in order to successfully perform their work. At the same time, developers experience many disruptions to their focus, especially in today's highly demanding, collaborative and open office work environments. When these disruptions happen during tasks that require a lot of focus, such as comprehending a difficult piece of source code, they can be very costly, causing a decrease in performance and quality. By sensing how focused a developer is, we might be able to reduce the cost of such disruptions. In our previous work, we investigated the use of biometric and computer interaction sensors to sense interruptibility - the availability for interruptions - and developed the FlowLight approach - a traffic light like LED indicator of a person's interruptibility - to reduce the cost of external in-person interruptions, a particularly expensive kind of disruption. Our results demonstrate the potential of accurately sensing interruptibility in the field and of reducing external interruption cost to increase focus and productivity of knowledge workers