HASEL End-of-Year Newsletter & Review

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

As 2023 draws to a close, we reflect on the exciting journey of our HASEL-team in this past year. It has been a great year with the addition of two new PhD students, Juliana & Tarek, several fantastic ongoing and new collaborations, many successful research projects and publications, innovative bachelor and master student projects, and unforgettable social events, including our retreat in Appenzell and Christmas-hackathon.

We’d like to use this newsletter to reflect a bit and share some of our highlights and learnings with you:

This is a photo taken at our summer retreat in Appenzell. Isn’t it cool how our research group is growing?

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

Developer Workflow

Helping developers to answer their Questions

Developers dedicate a significant amount of time to finding answers to coding-related questions, often by using StackOverflow, Discord or ChatGPT. Yet, many of these questions have already been answered. In a field experiment, we’ve evaluated the helpfulness of our approach to automatically recommend similar questions in developer communities on Discord. Learn more about how well this worked and which challenges developers face when formulating questions.

By Alexander, André and Thomas.

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

Collaborative web Page Curations in Code

Even though developers spend about a quarter of their workday using the web to fulfill various information needs, they rarely systematically persist the information. We’ve introduced and evaluate a novel approach, SALI, to semi-automatically linking web pages to source code locations inline within the source code. The lab study revealed that developers continuously and concisely curate web pages at meaningful locations within the code with little effort, and that these curations make other developers faster when working on related change tasks.

By Roy, André and Thomas from HASEL, as well as Reid Holmes.

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

Reshaping Teamwork

Cultivating Team Mindset about Productivity with Team Nudge

The CSCW publication explores how team dynamics impact individuals’ perceptions of productivity. When reflecting on how their team contributed to their productivity, developers shifted their mindsets to see their team more as an aid rather than a hindrance. Nudging individuals to recognize team contributions proved effective, underscoring the collective role in workplace productivity.

By Alexander, André and Thomas from HASEL, as well as Lauren Howe and Gail Murphy.

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

Balancing Individual Focus and Teamwork in Hybrid Teams

In an invited article at Inside IT (German), we explored the challenges that hybrid working teams face nowadays. The increased flexibility in when and where we work from can boost productivity, but often makes effective collaboration difficult, increasing interruptions and reducing focus. We also outline our vision for FlowTeams, an approach to support teams in finding a balance between focused work and teamwork.

Relatedly, did you know that our flow algorithm that we’ve developed with Dave Shepherd and ABB a couple of years ago was finally accepted as a US-patent?

By André & Thomas.

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

Fostering Flow and Well-Being

Ready Worker One? High-Res for the home office to improve focused work

Many knowledge workers like working from home but struggle with limited space. Virtual Reality (VR) might help to transform small spaces into expansive virtual offices. In a multi-day study, ten knowledge workers used VR for two hours daily, revealing enhanced focus and improved task enjoyment, hinting at VR’s potential to solve key home workstation challenges.

By Anastasia and Thomas from HASEL, as well as David Shepherd, Felipe Fronchetti, Boden Kahn, Luiz Susin, and Zekeya Hurley.

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

Therapy-inspired digital intervention to relieve stress and increase productivity

Today’s knowledge workers face challenges balancing demanding tasks, work-life boundaries, and increasing stress. We created an intervention inspired by cognitive behavioral therapy that guides users to reflect on how well they spend their time at work, revealing that it leads to a more holistic perspective on work, including breaks and emotions.

By Thomas from HASEL, as well as Kevin Chow, Joanna McGrenere, Liisa Holsti and Skye Barbic.

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

Extracurricular Activities...

Team Hackathon: Turtle Race

In December, we’ve organized a two-day hackathon during which our PhD students as well as a few invited bachelor and master students were teaming up to hack a turtle race that explores fostering friendly & fun competition and increasing awareness about workday types.

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

Smartwatch App to Support Long Covid Patients

In a joint collaboration with the University Hospital Zurich, we developed a digital platform for supporting Long Covid (and ME/CFS) patients in their activity pacing strategies. The platforms uses a smartwatch to monitor biometric signals such as heart rate and steps, and alarms the patient when they are at risk of over-exertion and crashes. The collaboration was recently awarded the UZH Postdoc Team Award.

By Isabelle and André from HASEL, and Carlo Cervia-Hasler.

20.12.2023 by André Meyer

For 2024, we will focus our research on three key areas: (1) developer workflow and task switching, (2) knowledge worker attention, fatigue & focus, as well as (hybrid) team interaction and collaboration.

We also want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all our collaborators, supporters, students, the department and university, the broader community, as well as our families for their fantastic encouragement and support throughout this year. Thank you for being an integral part of our journey!

We want to wish you and your loved ones a joyous Christmas, filled with peace, happiness and cherished moments.

Sincerely,

the HASEL-team