Get the guidebook to being human in tech
Dr. Cat Hicks is a category of one."
"The whole thing is stellar. Five stars.
This book could be the "Accelerate" of the agentic era. It's one thing to have opinions, and entirely a different thing to have opinions **backed by research.**
Anyone who cares about software should read it.
- Charity Majors, Cofounder & CTO at honeycomb.io
If you lead engineers and believe culture is ‘soft,’ this book will disabuse you of that notion quickly. Psychological safety, learning, and collaboration aren’t perks, they are infrastructure. Ignore them and your systems will fail, slowly or catastrophically.
- Scott Hanselman, VP of Developer Community, Microsoft
It is quite possibly the best software development book about teams that I have ever read. Each paragraph has some insightful nugget and relates so well to the real world. Highly recommend!
- Carol Willing, Python Core Developer, 3-term steering council member
One of my most gifted [former] co-workers at Google has written an incredibly insightful book on the psychology of software. Very nerdy, very wonderful. It's worth a read if you care about scientifically based ways to best manage software teams
- Mary Kate Stimmler, Fellow at the Stanford Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences (CASBS)
If you work in tech or if you work with people who work in tech, preorder this book. Just do it. I have no doubt that you will better for it, and I’m pretty sure the world will be better for it.
- Bryan Guffey
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The Psychology of Software Teams is essential reading for anyone engaged in building, supporting, or growing software teams.
My favorite chapter is Chapter 3, where you bring the receipts that nuke the "10x developer" and "l33tcode" myths from orbit, leaving them both a smoking crater in the ground. 👏
- Eli Israel, Managing Partner, Gartner Consulting
Like everyone else with a lick of sense in this dumbass software business, I have pre-ordered [Cat's] 's book.
- @oisin@mastodon.ie
Cat Hicks knows more about the human dynamics of software teams than anyone else I have ever known. Can't wait to read her new book. If you work with developers, this is the user manual you've been looking for.
- Adam Zimman, author of Progressive Delivery
I’ve never read a book with such high levels of dense content, as in 0 fluff and filler.
It makes it impossible to highlight a section to refer to later because nearly every paragraph was revelatory.
- David Amor, Principal FPGA Engineer
...another thing I love about this book: the evidence base (from studies spanning decades) is rigorous and richly framed, but Cat sets it alongside the lived experiences of developers to help illuminate and validate their insights -- instead of positioning the science as truth from on high that overrules lived experience....a masterclass in science writing!
- Shern Tee, PhD, Senior Developer & science communicator
Never have I felt so well understood in my job as a manager of engineering teams.
- Sasha Göbbels, Senior Engineering Manager
Here are a few of the most memorable moments that have happened at a Cat Talk recently:
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A developer and their manager made a plan out loud together for more learning time
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An engineering leader invited his organization to come to him with more unspoken barriers and frictions
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A junior developer took my slides and study and presented about developer science to her entire company (with my enthusiastic support, of course!)
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Out loud with a staff engineer in front of an auditorium, we worked through a definition of "good productivity" in a Q&A
Evidence only turns into action if we tell good stories together. Therefore, I love to give talks about the science and psychology of thriving in technology work. My talks are packed with evidence, backed with science, and focus on helping people learn to recognize and move forward on changing the cultures around them for the better. But most of all, my talks create a space for your technologists to think and plan around the human side of this work.
About having Cat as a speaker
I'm a multidisciplinary scientist who's seen the transformative impact that telling a powerful story can have everywhere from tiny community groups to high pressure board rooms. I give talks with evidence and interventions I've tested myself. As a speaker I'm a great fit for events that want big, compassionate, and rigorously scientific thinking about technology work and innovation. Don't come to me if you want a tech vent session; come to me if you want to think and plan for optimistic change. We'll interrogate the evidence, name what you've always noticed but never quite understood before, and walk away with some real strategies to try next.
My typical audiences include international leadership conferences, large technical conferences, engineering leaders, developer experience and infrastructure teams, digital transformation labs, and technical groups seeking to enhance their understanding of research, data, and the dynamics of successful software teams. I regularly speak with communities of technical people organized around specific programming languages, projects, or movements. Psychology matters everywhere, so I am happy to help your specific community think about how to put good psychology into practice for their context.
Folks describe my talks as "epic," "infectiously passionate,"warmly brilliant," and "incredibly validating."
Logistics
For large-scale events, please contact for speaker rider and speaker fee at least four months in advance of your event. I prioritize working with events and communities that have shown a demonstrated commitment to supporting marginalized people in tech including women in tech and LGBTQ+ people in tech. Where possible, I waive a speaker fee for nonprofits, and community organizations.
