Cat @ VirtualDDD: "a barn burner of a talk" References & Resources

Thank you to Amy Hoy for this charming description of my talk , and to Hazel Weakly for a delightful live thread + the phrase " Toddler... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 6 days ago

Citation as Pilgrimage

Yesterday I listened to this podcast with Phil Cousineau because it came up in the dice roll of my driving playlist (I haven’t read the... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 month ago

Ways to listen to (rather than read about) the psychology of software teams!

You know what I realized? I've been putting a lot of work into audio scicomm (or as most people call it, being on podcasts) and I haven't... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 month ago

Just another example of how collaboration, not competition, drives healthy science

In November, Ana Hevesi and I published the first version of our Cumulative Culture Theory of Developer Problem-Solving as a preprint,... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 2 months ago

Assorted (unsorted) thoughts about trauma-informed research 

Whenever I start a research project, I pull from my fiction-writing toolkit. One of my initiating questions I use to interrogate any... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 3 months ago

A Cumulative Culture Theory of Developer Problem-Solving: new preprint

For the last three years, I have thought often about why individual-level "explanations" of developers' ability, potential & productivity... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 4 months ago

On disclosure

The following is not a blogpost, but rather a direct copy of the text from a post I made on Linkedin today . I have an uneasy... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 5 months ago

Corporate Attribution Error

I made up this term the other day and frankly, I just liked it so much that I wanted to document it on my blog so I would remember it.... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 7 months ago

Cat @ the Bridges Summit: References and Resources

Today I'm giving a talk to the fabulous Bridges Summit . I'll come back to this post to share my talk once it's available! Meanwhile, I... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 7 months ago

The Uncertainty

I recently had reason to remember and re-read this important piece: Use caution when applying behavioural science to policy. I also had... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 9 months ago

An open access developer science roundup

We've been busy. Developer Thriving: four sociocognitive factors that create resilient productivity on software teams Co-authored with my... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 12 months ago

Covid Data Log

Note: For me, 2023 was defined by battling through and recovering from severe and life-threatening illness. Am I better now? Idk. Far... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 year ago

Engineering Managers do Triage work. Do we know this?

I can't stop thinking about this lately. After several research projects and across 25+ in-depth sessions with teams tasked with... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 year ago

On hidden context: Behavioral science is the key to studying engineering effectiveness

In the last eight months, I've talked about our Developer Thriving framework with junior developers, with industry analysts, with crowds... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 year ago

The most personal talk I've ever given in tech

Last month I was lucky to get to go to Monktoberfest for the first time -- and bring Dr. Carol Lee and Morgan Ramsey, the two senior... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 year ago

When things happen, not just what

I recently had the chance to listen to a talk from Dr. Claire Meaders about her intervention science work in scaffolding better and more... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 year ago

New research from me: AI Skill Threat & contest cultures on software teams

Thrilled (and frankly, exhausted in that great-bone-deep-I-made-something way) that I can now share this with you: the Developer Success... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 year ago

On Craft

My grandpa -- my Missouri grandpa, who played slide guitar to me when I got homesick on the rare occasions I stayed with them -- grew up... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 year ago

Sense of Belonging and Software Teams

I’ve been reading about role-based belonging. This is a paper I’ve come back to several times in the last few months. I especially like... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 year ago

Listening & Talking at LeadDev London

In June, I had the chance to go to LeadDev London. It was really an amazing experience (as evidenced by the fact that I’m still thinking... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 1 year ago

A link roundup: Things I'm thinking about (software research edition)

I've posted a lot of things in various places and platforms lately, and so I wanted to do a small roundup on this blog. The lab I... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 2 years ago

Talking to doctors about evidence and post covid symptoms

For the last six months I've been attempting to get healthcare for post covid symptoms. It will likely come as no surprise that this has... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 2 years ago

“Coding in the Dark” a year later

It takes me a long time to write conclusions. This is true for science writing, not fiction writing. When I write fiction, I always know... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 2 years ago

Expecting Success

John asked a super interesting question. It’s one that I’ve spent a great deal of time wondering about. This is going to be my attempt to... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 2 years ago

A long way of explaining why I haven’t answered your email.

Pain happened like a disaster: something I couldn’t imagine before, something I couldn’t stop imagining after. I have lived through... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 2 years ago

Five Things I’ve Learned in Ten Years of being a Social Scientist in Tech

I’ve been doing work in tech for ten years. Ten years ago I didn't say much about leaving academia, even though it was a big choice that... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 2 years ago

People can't give you what you want until you tell them what you want

There are tons of posts, and books, and talks about negotiating salaries. This isn't going to be that. This is going to be about what... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 3 years ago

Reducing the deficit (in tech)

In my work as an applied researcher so far, a few big truths have come up again and again. They aren’t the hardest concepts to... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 3 years ago

In defense of OTHER

I was trying to get the registration stickers for my car. I should’ve gotten them, but I hadn’t. Instead, I’d gotten three different... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 3 years ago

Telling your own stories in career transitions

Sometimes I give guest lectures to grad students about transitioning from academia to careers in industry. I always really enjoy these; I... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 3 years ago

When we ask for help in learning

Originally posted to medium here I’ve always been the kind of person who forgets it’s an option to raise your hand and ask a question. I... | Continue reading


@drcathicks.com | 3 years ago