Upcoming Paper Jam: The Psychology of Software Teams, Part 1
Paper Jam #21 will be our first without an actual paper! We're temporarily transforming the format into a book club. On our last call, we noticed we're all planning to read The Psychology of Software Teams by Cat Hicks, published this July. A single session is not enough time for a whole book, so we're splitting it up into two. This first session will cover chapters 1–4; the next one covers chapters 5–7.
Cat Hicks is no stranger to Paper Jams. Back in session #2 we discussed the Developer Thriving framework she built with Carol Lee. Her name kept coming up in later sessions too, most recently when we talked about what a 2x productivity mandate does to the humans on the receiving end.
These are the chapters for this session:
- The Brains and Hearts That Build the World
- Breaking Up with Brains-in-Jars
- More Bands and Fewer Rockstars
- The Performance Paradox
We'll be meeting on Friday, September 11 at 1pm UTC.
Cat Hicks
The Psychology of Software Teams (2026) [link] — chapters 1–4
There's no PDF to download this time — you'll need a copy of the book, print or ebook. If you're unable to get and read the book in time, don't worry: feel free to listen in on the discussion anyway.
Paper Jams is a monthly one-hour video call where a small group discusses research on the human factors of making software — usually an academic paper, this time a book. We follow the Chatham House Rule, and the conversation goes wherever the group takes it.
Interested? Subscribe to Paper Jams to get invited to the call.
