A Call to Promote Soft Skills in Software Engineering

Abstract

We have been thinking about other aspects of software 
engineering for many years; the missing link in engineering 
software is the soft skills set, essential in the software development 
process. Although soft skills are among the most important aspects 
in the creation of software, they are often overlooked by educators 
and practitioners. One of the main reasons for the oversight is that 
soft skills are usually related to social and personality factors, i.e., 
teamwork, motivation, commitment, leadership, multi-culturalism, 
emotions, interpersonal skills, etc. This editorial is a manifesto 
declaring the importance of soft skills in software engineering with 
the intention to draw professionals’ attention to these topics. We 
have approached this issue by mentioning what we know about 
the field,1-6 what we believe to be evident,7-9 and which topics need 
further investigation.10-14 Important references to back up our 
claims are also included