In a recent post, I lamented the small number of women who enter and succeed in our field. My intention then was to suggest that we could benefit, in this agile age, from the kind of mental processing that is traditionally associated with women. I sidestepped the question of why and how it happens that men so dramatically outnumber women in software development.

A new study from the Level Playing Field Institute helps answer these questions. The Tilted Playing Field: Hidden Bias in Information Technology Workplaces (PDF) is an insightful, eye-opening, fact-based analysis of how IT has closed its doors to women and people of color. The report says that IT organizations are all too often hostile environments for members of minority groups.

The Level Playing Field Institute has previously documented the underrepresentation of women and people of color in educational programs intended to lead to high-tech jobs. The new report shows that women and minorities face barriers in the workplace as well.

The report has three main findings:

1. Workplace experiences vary significantly by race and gender. Women and underrepresented people of color experience negative workplace incidents at elevated rates.

2. Negative workplace incidents lead to increased turnover in IT jobs as women and minorities leave the company or the field.

3. Although hiring managers and HR departments believe themselves to be bias-free, efforts to promote diversity are not an operational priority in most organizations.

I find the third finding the most interesting. It means that even those who believe themselves to be part of the solution are likely part of the problem.

Read the report for yourself. It's an eye-opener.

Web recommendation: Are you on the DevOps bandwagon yet? I predict it's only a matter of time. Increasing communication between development and operations makes both parts of the business run better. I'm going to write about this again and again in the months to come. In the meantime, there's a pretty good introduction here: What is DevOps? J.D. says check it out.

J.D. Hildebrand has written hundreds of articles for dozens of publications and online communities dedicated to software development. He recently relocated to a small town outside Belgrade – stop by if your travels take you through Serbia.