User Insights and Effective Teams: Psychology in IT Project Practice

1. Psychology of work in agile teams

• introduction to the work of a psychologist in an Agile environment,
• specificity of Agile organizational culture,
• expectations towards a psychologist in technology projects,
• cooperation with the Product Owner, Scrum Master and the development team,
• work rhythm and time pressure in sprints,
• psychological dynamics of short iterations,
• cognitive and emotional reactions to time pressure,
• techniques for reducing tension in sprints,
• psychological safety in Agile teams,
• Amy Edmondson's concept,
• collective intelligence (Woolley et al., 2010) and its importance for IT,
• examples of interventions increasing the sense of safety,
• autonomy and intrinsic motivation,
• Self-Determination Theory in the work of self-organizing teams,
• how to build a sense of influence and responsibility in technology projects.

2. Psychology of communication under time pressure

• psychological mechanisms of communication in a high-pressure environment,
• the impact of project pace on the quality of information exchange,
• the most common communication errors and how to prevent them,
• synchronous vs asynchronous communication,
• Daily Stand-ups – psychological aspects,
• Communication fatigue and information overload,
• minimizing communication stress,
• interpersonal conflicts under pressure conditions,
• concepts of conflict escalation,
• practical de-escalation tools for IT teams,
• communication in distributed teams,
• the role of non-verbal signals online,
• techniques increasing clarity and trust in remote communication.

3. Group dynamics and team development

• psychological foundations of team functioning,
• mechanisms occurring in project groups,
• how a psychologist can diagnose group processes,
• Tuckman's model,
• Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing – Adjourning,
• psychological interventions at each stage,
• team roles and cognitive diversity,
• Belbin's team roles theory,
• why diverse teams are more innovative,
• managing cognitive differences,
• servant leadership and psychological support for the team,
• the concept of servant leadership,
• a supportive leader versus a controlling leader.

4. Burnout and the philosophy of sustainable productivity

• psychological consequences of the culture of constant haste,
• cognitive, emotional and health costs,
• the impact of task overload on the quality of code and collaboration,
• the psychology of burnout,
• the Maslach burnout model,
• diagnosing and counteracting burnout in technology teams,
• Slow Productivity – the psychology of sustainable goal achievement,
• Cal Newport's philosophy,
• Deep work vs pseudo-productivity,
• techniques for building focus,
• Wellbeing and mental balance,
• changes caused by the pandemic:
  • transition from open space to online mode,
  • the loneliness of an IT specialist,
  • the regime of remote work,
  • „Zoom fatigue” – mechanisms and counteraction

5. Psychology of organizational change and resistance

• why do people resist change?
• psychological foundations of resistance,
• fear of losing control, competence, and professional identity,
• change management models from a psychological perspective,
• Lewin's model (unfreezing → change → freezing),
• ADKAR model,
• Kübler-Ross change curve,
• stages of adaptation to new conditions,
• strategies supporting effective change,
• psychological interventions reducing resistance,
• building a change narrative,
• the role of the psychologist in digital transformations.

6. Optimization of team functioning and the future of the psychologist in IT

• psychological optimization of team work,
• how to measure team effectiveness from a psychological perspective,
• indicators of collaboration quality,
• UX Research and User-Centered Design,
• user research methods,
• the role of cognitive psychology in interface design,
• psychology of retrospectives and team learning,
• how to conduct retrospectives that really work,
• learning through reflection,
• engagement and talent retention,
• psychology of employee loyalty,
• what makes IT specialists want to stay in the organization?
• future competencies for the psychologist in IT,
• psychology + data literacy – working with data about teams,
• facilitation and moderation techniques,
• Design thinking, human-centered design.