Empathy is the ability to understand and share the emotions of others. It is an essential skill for software practitioners, supporting them to improve the software quality, communication, collaboration, and their work environment. However, it is still an under-researched topic in Software Engineering(SE). To bridge this gap, this research explores the perspective of software practitioners to investigate the meaning, importance, barriers, practices, and effects of empathy in SE. Through a qualitative analysis of Grey Literature, we built a framework of empathy in SE. The framework supports new research efforts and software professionals to develop empathetic skills in SE. Furthermore, we planned a survey with software practitioners to empirically evaluate the framework. This work presents my thesis’s current progress and plans as a PhD Student at the Federal University of Bahia (4th year) advised by professors Manoel Mendonça and José Amancio Macedo Santos. Participating in the FSE doctoral symposium, I expect to get feedback on my progress, research strategy, and guidance on future work.

I am a Ph.D. Student in Computer Science at the Federal University of Bahia. I have a Master’s in Computer Science from the Federal University of Sergipe. I was a Visiting Researcher for six months at Virginia Commonwealth University, sponsored by the Capes PrInt program. I am interested in the Software Engineering field, mostly in studying how human aspects (especially empathy), can affect software practitioners. Currently I am investigating empathetic practices and its effects in software engineering.