Supporting Developers' Emotional Awareness: from Self-reported Emotions to Biometrics

This PhD research project investigates whether emotional awareness can be helpful to improve developers’ productivity and well-being. The aim is to provide insights, based on self-monitoring, which can help developers to prevent or reduce stress. To support the research, a visualization tool has been built that shows biometrics and self-reported emotions. A series of empirical studies are conducted in the context of agile retrospective meetings, involving both students in a lab setting and professional developers in the workplace. Research will also address the use of non-invasive biometric sensors as an alternative rather than a complement to self-reporting of emotions. The aim is to enable emotional awareness without the need for intrusive self-monitoring mechanisms.