Measurement of the non-technical skills of software professionals: An empirical investigation

Software development managers recognize that project teams need to be developed and managed. Although technical skills are necessary, non-technical (NT) skills are equally necessary for project success. There are several tools that assist in measuring the effectiveness of the technical skills that teams use to perform projects, but there are no proven tools to measure the NT skills of software developers. Behavioral markers (BM), observable behaviors that have positive or negative impacts on individual or team performance) are beginning to be successfully used by airline and medical industries to assist managers in assessing NT skills of project teams and individuals. The purpose of this research is to develop and validate a NT skills taxonomy for software developers. This paper presents an empirical investigation to develop and validate a NT skills taxonomy which was in turn used to construct a BM system tool for said developers and software development teams.