Paper Jams! An Experiment

Paper Jams! An Experiment

I love working on meaningful things with others. It's how I feel connected with the rest of humanity.

And it's when looking beyond my immediate community or organization that I tend to find the most surprising or interesting connections.

When I was still in academia, it was easier to create these interactions. Write a paper, have it accepted at a conference, and then meet old and future friends who all care about similar questions and problems as you, but each bring their own unique perspective and background.

To recreate some of that, I'm launching an experiment today. Paper Jams! πŸŽ‰

What?

I'll do a roughly one-hour call on a Friday every four weeks. Leading up to the call, I'll send out a research paper to anyone who wants to join. We'll then discuss the paper using a few prompts and questions.

It might get awkward.

It might be super fun.

Or both!

Depending on how many people want to join and how things go I'll adjust the format going forward. Maybe something very structured will work best? Maybe just the opposite? We'll see. I might even do a write-up afterwards and publish it here!

The papers I'm interested in will likely live at the intersection of two or more fields that I'm interested in. Here's a rough list of what I'm thinking:

  • Software Engineering
  • Human-computer Interaction
  • Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
  • Systems Thinking
  • Psychology
  • Sociology

To make things a bit more concrete, here are a few examples of papers that I'd like to take a closer look at, and for which Paper Jams could be a good venue:

  • Donald T. Campbell
    Assessing the Impact of Planned Social Change (1976) [1]
    How can we influence the behavior of large social systems, and how can a haphazard use of the wrong metrics ruin everything?
  • H. Colleen Stuart et al.
    Social transparency in networked information exchange: a theoretical framework (2012) [2]
    Is this a useful lens to use when designing how a remote organization works?
  • AndrΓ© N. Meyer et al.
    Software developers' perceptions of productivity (2014) [3]
    What makes developer feel productive? How can we intentionally make those situations more likely?
  • Eirini Kalliamvakou et al.
    What Makes a Great Manager of Software Engineers? (2018) [4]
    What are the best ways that an Engineering Manager can help their team?
  • Margaret-Anne Storey et al.
    Towards a Theory of Software Developer Job Satisfaction and Perceived Productivity (2021) [5]
    How do those two phenomena relate to one another, and how can we tweak the system to improve both?
  • Catherine M. Hicks et al.
    Developer Thriving: Four Sociocognitive Factors That Create Resilient Productivity on Software Teams (2024) [6]
    How can we help developers thrive at work, and how does this relate to self-determination theory?

These are all papers that I'd either like to read or that I've read already but would like to revisit β€” this time with a more intentional stance to inform my work as an Engineering Manager at Ghost.

I hope this gives you a rough idea. When in doubt β€” always feel free to propose an additional field of study or even a concrete paper. πŸ™‚

When?

Paper Jams start next month, on January 17th 2025.

I'd love for you to join!

I'll strive to find a time that works for most of those who would like to participate.

How?

You can take part by subscribing to my blog's new paid membership. It's 5 EUR per month, which I hope will ensure a certain baseline buy-in from participants.

The more important reason, though, is accountability for myself.

If I dare take your money I better come prepared. 😬

Is this just a premature New Year's resolution, destined to fizzle out after a few months? Or is this the start of something super fun and meaningful? Let's find out together.

I'm looking forward to jamming with you! 🎡


Note: I'm doing this for the fun of it β€” looking at interesting research together with likeminded others. To manage expectations, I've written up the terms for Paper Jams here. The gist: If I'm sick on the day of the call it might not happen at the planned time, date, or not at all. But I'll give you a refund for the month if you ask. If I write up the results from a jam I'm happy to mention your contributions, but I'll ask beforehand.