Background: Prior research indicates that software developers experience serious levels of anxiety and stress, a form of suffering, due to a highly time-bound and technology-focused job environment. Such suffering affects their emotional well-being, professional productivity, and the software products they develop. Information, Idea, Arguments: Compassion arises when a person is confronted with another human’s suffering and feels motivated to relieve that suffering. We want to explore how increasing compassion in software developers can positively impact the software development process. Vote: Is “compassionate software development” a topic worth researching?