How to spot the most productive Software Developers

On my blog, you’ve probably noticed how I outline my workflow to help you become the most productive developer you can be.

The truth is, however, that technical factors play a much smaller role in our productivity than we’d like to admit.

In the paper What Predicts Software Developers’ Productivity?, a wide range of influences on developer productivity are examined.And as it turns out, the top factors are:

  1. Job enthusiasm
  2. Peer support for new ideas
  3. Useful feedback about job performance

A notable outcome of the ranking is that the top 10 productivity factors are non-technical

This is somewhat surprising, given that most software engineering research tends to focus on technical aspects of software engineering, in our estimation. Thus a vigorous refocusing on human factors may yield substantially more industry impact

So how do you find the best software developers at your company?

Look for the happiest ones 😉