Pandemic programming: How COVID-19 affects software developers and how their organizations can help

Paul Ralph; Sebastian Baltes; Gianisa Adisaputri; Richard Torkar; Vladimir Kovalenko; Marcos Kalinowski; Nicole Novielli; Shin Yoo; Xavier Devroey; Xin Tan; Minghui Zhou; Burak Turhan; Rashina Hoda; Hideaki Hata; Gregorio Robles; Amin Milani Fard; Rana Alkadhi

doi:10.1007/s10664-020-09875-y

Pandemic programming: How COVID-19 affects software developers and how their organizations can help

Paul Ralph, Sebastian Baltes, Gianisa Adisaputri, Richard Torkar, Vladimir Kovalenko, Marcos Kalinowski, Nicole Novielli, Shin Yoo, Xavier Devroey, Xin Tan, Minghui Zhou, Burak Turhan, Rashina Hoda, Hideaki Hata, Gregorio Robles, Amin Milani Fard, Rana Alkadhi

Software Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

156 Citations (Scopus)

264 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Context: As a novel coronavirus swept the world in early 2020, thousands of software developers began working from home. Many did so on short notice, under difficult and stressful conditions.

Objective: This study investigates the effects of the pandemic on developers’ wellbeing and productivity.

Method: A questionnaire survey was created mainly from existing, validated scales and translated into 12 languages. The data was analyzed using non-parametric inferential statistics and structural equation modeling.

Results: The questionnaire received 2225 usable responses from 53 countries. Factor analysis supported the validity of the scales and the structural model achieved a good fit (CFI = 0.961, RMSEA = 0.051, SRMR = 0.067). Confirmatory results include: (1) the pandemic has had a negative effect on developers’ wellbeing and productivity; (2) productivity and wellbeing are closely related; (3) disaster preparedness, fear related to the pandemic and home office ergonomics all affect wellbeing or productivity. Exploratory analysis suggests that: (1) women, parents and people with disabilities may be disproportionately affected; (2) different people need different kinds of support.

Conclusions: To improve employee productivity, software companies should focus on maximizing employee wellbeing and improving the ergonomics of employees’ home offices. Women, parents and disabled persons may require extra support.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4927-4961
Number of pages	35
Journal	Empirical Software Engineering
Volume	25
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-020-09875-y
Publication status	Published - 2020

Keywords

COVID-19
Crisis management
Disaster management
Emergency management
Pandemic
Productivity
Questionnaire
Software development
Structural equation modeling
Wellbeing
Work from home

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10.1007/s10664-020-09875-y

Ralph2020_Article_PandemicProgrammingFinal published version, 1.88 MBLicence: CC BY

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Ralph, P., Baltes, S., Adisaputri, G., Torkar, R., Kovalenko, V., Kalinowski, M., Novielli, N., Yoo, S., Devroey, X., Tan, X., Zhou, M., Turhan, B., Hoda, R., Hata, H., Robles, G., Milani Fard, A., & Alkadhi, R. (2020). Pandemic programming: How COVID-19 affects software developers and how their organizations can help. Empirical Software Engineering, 25(6), 4927-4961. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-020-09875-y

@article{f50bd1f1e48e4c378ec17369f70af7e7,

title = "Pandemic programming: How COVID-19 affects software developers and how their organizations can help",

abstract = "Context: As a novel coronavirus swept the world in early 2020, thousands of software developers began working from home. Many did so on short notice, under difficult and stressful conditions.Objective: This study investigates the effects of the pandemic on developers{\textquoteright} wellbeing and productivity.Method: A questionnaire survey was created mainly from existing, validated scales and translated into 12 languages. The data was analyzed using non-parametric inferential statistics and structural equation modeling.Results: The questionnaire received 2225 usable responses from 53 countries. Factor analysis supported the validity of the scales and the structural model achieved a good fit (CFI = 0.961, RMSEA = 0.051, SRMR = 0.067). Confirmatory results include: (1) the pandemic has had a negative effect on developers{\textquoteright} wellbeing and productivity; (2) productivity and wellbeing are closely related; (3) disaster preparedness, fear related to the pandemic and home office ergonomics all affect wellbeing or productivity. Exploratory analysis suggests that: (1) women, parents and people with disabilities may be disproportionately affected; (2) different people need different kinds of support.Conclusions: To improve employee productivity, software companies should focus on maximizing employee wellbeing and improving the ergonomics of employees{\textquoteright} home offices. Women, parents and disabled persons may require extra support.",

keywords = "COVID-19, Crisis management, Disaster management, Emergency management, Pandemic, Productivity, Questionnaire, Software development, Structural equation modeling, Wellbeing, Work from home",

author = "Paul Ralph and Sebastian Baltes and Gianisa Adisaputri and Richard Torkar and Vladimir Kovalenko and Marcos Kalinowski and Nicole Novielli and Shin Yoo and Xavier Devroey and Xin Tan and Minghui Zhou and Burak Turhan and Rashina Hoda and Hideaki Hata and Gregorio Robles and {Milani Fard}, Amin and Rana Alkadhi",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.1007/s10664-020-09875-y",

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Ralph, P, Baltes, S, Adisaputri, G, Torkar, R, Kovalenko, V, Kalinowski, M, Novielli, N, Yoo, S, Devroey, X, Tan, X, Zhou, M, Turhan, B, Hoda, R, Hata, H, Robles, G, Milani Fard, A & Alkadhi, R 2020, 'Pandemic programming: How COVID-19 affects software developers and how their organizations can help', Empirical Software Engineering, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 4927-4961. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-020-09875-y

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pandemic programming: How COVID-19 affects software developers and how their organizations can help

AU - Ralph, Paul

AU - Baltes, Sebastian

AU - Adisaputri, Gianisa

AU - Torkar, Richard

AU - Kovalenko, Vladimir

AU - Kalinowski, Marcos

AU - Novielli, Nicole

AU - Yoo, Shin

AU - Devroey, Xavier

AU - Tan, Xin

AU - Zhou, Minghui

AU - Turhan, Burak

AU - Hoda, Rashina

AU - Hata, Hideaki

AU - Robles, Gregorio

AU - Milani Fard, Amin

AU - Alkadhi, Rana

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Context: As a novel coronavirus swept the world in early 2020, thousands of software developers began working from home. Many did so on short notice, under difficult and stressful conditions.Objective: This study investigates the effects of the pandemic on developers’ wellbeing and productivity.Method: A questionnaire survey was created mainly from existing, validated scales and translated into 12 languages. The data was analyzed using non-parametric inferential statistics and structural equation modeling.Results: The questionnaire received 2225 usable responses from 53 countries. Factor analysis supported the validity of the scales and the structural model achieved a good fit (CFI = 0.961, RMSEA = 0.051, SRMR = 0.067). Confirmatory results include: (1) the pandemic has had a negative effect on developers’ wellbeing and productivity; (2) productivity and wellbeing are closely related; (3) disaster preparedness, fear related to the pandemic and home office ergonomics all affect wellbeing or productivity. Exploratory analysis suggests that: (1) women, parents and people with disabilities may be disproportionately affected; (2) different people need different kinds of support.Conclusions: To improve employee productivity, software companies should focus on maximizing employee wellbeing and improving the ergonomics of employees’ home offices. Women, parents and disabled persons may require extra support.

AB - Context: As a novel coronavirus swept the world in early 2020, thousands of software developers began working from home. Many did so on short notice, under difficult and stressful conditions.Objective: This study investigates the effects of the pandemic on developers’ wellbeing and productivity.Method: A questionnaire survey was created mainly from existing, validated scales and translated into 12 languages. The data was analyzed using non-parametric inferential statistics and structural equation modeling.Results: The questionnaire received 2225 usable responses from 53 countries. Factor analysis supported the validity of the scales and the structural model achieved a good fit (CFI = 0.961, RMSEA = 0.051, SRMR = 0.067). Confirmatory results include: (1) the pandemic has had a negative effect on developers’ wellbeing and productivity; (2) productivity and wellbeing are closely related; (3) disaster preparedness, fear related to the pandemic and home office ergonomics all affect wellbeing or productivity. Exploratory analysis suggests that: (1) women, parents and people with disabilities may be disproportionately affected; (2) different people need different kinds of support.Conclusions: To improve employee productivity, software companies should focus on maximizing employee wellbeing and improving the ergonomics of employees’ home offices. Women, parents and disabled persons may require extra support.

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KW - Crisis management

KW - Disaster management

KW - Emergency management

KW - Pandemic

KW - Productivity

KW - Questionnaire

KW - Software development

KW - Structural equation modeling

KW - Wellbeing

KW - Work from home

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U2 - 10.1007/s10664-020-09875-y

DO - 10.1007/s10664-020-09875-y

M3 - Article

SN - 1573-7616

VL - 25

SP - 4927

EP - 4961

JO - Empirical Software Engineering

JF - Empirical Software Engineering

IS - 6

ER -

Pandemic programming: How COVID-19 affects software developers and how their organizations can help

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