Attention and Concentration for Software Developers

Abstract

Attention and concentration has been claimed as reasons for higher quality code and more productive development, also with some empirical evidence. In this paper we investigate the matter further. We present a systematic literature review focused on investigating the existing methods for measuring attention in the software development processes especially team meetings. Based on the research gap revealed by literature review, we conducted experiments measuring attention levels using portable electroencephalography (EEG) device. Attention was measured while the software developers took part in stand-up and sit-down meetings. The experimental results revealed that stand-up meetings foster higher level of attention compared to sit-down meetings.

Keywords

• Software engineering
• software development
• brainwaves
• EEG
• empirical studies