Povilas Godliauskas

I am a psychologist (BA/MSc), accredited coach (European Mentoring and Coaching Council), and hobbyist researcher with over 5 years of experience in the tech field, working mainly as an IT recruiter and HR consultant. Since 2018, I have been doing psychological research on the psychology of (agile) software developers, specifically factors that contribute to the well-being of software developers and their teams. This Autumn, I will start working as a lecturer and researcher at Mykolas Romeris University. Right now, I am mainly offering psychological counseling and coaching sesions to individuals, focusing especially on people with a tech or managerial background (from software to product people). Therefore, I tend to notice first hand the positive as well as the negative consequences of working in an Agile or highly dynamic environments. So, I would like to share my research and practice-driven insights on how we should prevent people from suffering negative psychological and organizational consequences.

Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godliauskas/ - LinkedIn profile https://www.qoorio.app/o/godliauskas - Qoorio profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/godliauskas/detail/recent-activity/posts/ - blog https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Povilas-Godliauskas/research - research portfolio

15:25 - 15:45

October 27 Day 1 - Track 2

The Well-being of Software Developers: Where Agile Meets the Road

The first value of the Agile manifesto states: “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.” However, after studying the teams of 11 software development companies, I learned the following: the use of interaction-driven Agile practices had little to do with the psychological performance of software development teams. Upon reflection, I asked myself: could it be the case that we have been focusing too much on the interactions and too little on the individuals? So, I spent the last three years of my professional career talking to tech professionals – from engineers to leaders – about their feelings and attitudes. Unfortunately, I came to realize that this group of highly talented and growth-oriented individuals was suffering from various psychological issues, ranging from self-doubt to productivity issues. In this talk, I will share my reflections and research results on the well-being of software developers. Let us bring our attention back to the individual and see where the rubber meets the road!