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I manage a team of Data Scientists, and I've come to think of motivation more in terms of avoiding mistakes than doing things well. A lot of people are naturall

I manage a team of Data Scientists, and I've come to think of motivation more in terms of avoiding mistakes than doing things well. A lot of people are naturally motivated, but conditions at work can drain that interest. Some examples: –Feeling like no one is scrutinizing your work to notice whether you're doing a good job or not –Feeling like even if you do a good job, you won't be rewarded –Having to spend a lot of time on uninteresting bureaucracy rather than the work you enjoy –Being told what to do in extreme detail, without opportunities to think much for yourself –The opposite problem of having too little detail, so you don't really know what problem you're trying to solve –The office being too cold, noisy, etc. –Constantly working by yourself, when you want to work w/others more –Constantly working with others, when you want to work by yourself more And so on. IMO the most important thing a manager can do in terms of motivating employees is just to listen to what they want, find the things that are blocking them, and solve them one at a time.

jvln 10y ago
So true. Three examples perfectly reflects my situation.
secstate 10y ago
I think the biggest challenge to your statement is "listen to what they want." Much of our modern psychology suggests people don't always know what they want, or don't want what they think they want. This is not meant as an insult, as it applies to all humans, whether they're a developer or not. That means that listening is a huge part, but it's not enough to simply implement exactly what you hear they want. All that said, I still totally agree with your examples.
- SatvikBeri 10y ago
  Yeah, you're totally right. Just literally listening is not enough–you have to ask questions, trace symptoms down to a root cause, and then come up with a good solution for that problem. For example, one person requested that we make standups earlier, because they wanted to get them out of the way before getting into the zone. Another suggested making standups later, because they preferred to start work later in the day. Obviously these solutions as suggested were incompatible. So I tried to figure out what value we were getting from standups, and figured that it was worth experimenting with making them asynchronous using Slack. That worked really well, and is what we do now most of the time. (Occasionally, the team likes having in-person standups when in the middle of a tough series of bugfixes.)
  - secstate 10y ago
    Exactly! And kudos on figuring out a system that accomplishes the goal (what's everyone up to), but works well for the most people.
  - Drdrdrq 10y ago
    > So I tried to figure out what value we were getting from standups, and figured that it was worth experimenting with making them asynchronous using Slack. Could you please elaborate on what you are doing? We are facing similar problems so I would love to know more...
    - SatvikBeri 10y ago
      I found that I was getting two things from standups: knowing what people were working on, and having a natural time to ask for/offer help. So (for now) we use Geekbot, and configured it to ask everyone on the team four questions each day: –What did you accomplish yesterday? –What is your top priority today? –Where can you use help/what's blocking you? –Which of these best describes your current level of challenge: bored, relaxed, excited, frustrated? Everyone on the team is expected to read each other's standup reports (we have 7 people.)
      - user5994461 10y ago
        Isn't it too much to have this every day? I've found that asking people every day incentivized them to write about anything and invent stuff just to fill up the question.
        SatvikBeri 10y ago
        All the questions are optional. It's a little more than my team would like, and a little less than I would like to ask each day, so I think it's a fair compromise.
      - AznHisoka 10y ago
        When i did something like this in my prior company I did not care at all what others wrote. i would lie to my manager that i read it but i still did not care.
andrei_says_ 10y ago
I do work around motivation and communication and would like to share some of my experience. In my work I use the Nonviolent Communication/Maslow model: every action we take is a strategy to meet a basic human need. There are no "good" or "bad" actions. Some actions meet more needs for more people than others. Extrinsic motivation (rewards/punishment, or, as I like to simplify it, punishment -- because withholding the carrot is just that), is not sustainable. See Alfie Kohn's Punished by Rewards for an exhaustive list of papers and experiments. The list you provided can be related to basic human needs: > –Feeling like no one is scrutinizing your work to notice whether you're doing a good job or not Unmet needs for appreciation, acknowledgment, contribution > –Feeling like even if you do a good job, you won't be rewarded Unmet need for appreciation. This is tricky, because corporations as entities want to pay as little as possible while extracting as much as possible. So showing appreciation through money is undesirable. Still, people who can easily find better paying jobs elsewhere, do continue working at SpaceX and Tesla despite being underpaid. Mostly because they have a strong sense of purpose and non-monetary appreciation. > –Having to spend a lot of time on uninteresting bureaucracy rather than the work you enjoy Unmet needs for efficiency, purpose > –Being told what to do in extreme detail, without opportunities to think much for yourself Unmet need for competency (being seen as competent), acknowledgment (of intelligence), autonomy (this is the one people start wars for) > –The opposite problem of having too little detail, so you don't really know what problem you're trying to solve Unmet need for clarity –The office being too cold, noisy, etc. Unmet needs around physical and mental well-being > –Constantly working by yourself, when you want to work w/others more Unmet needs around connection, belonging > –Constantly working with others, when you want to work by yourself more Unmet needs around solitude, efficiency, autonomy Many of these can be addressed in simple, constructive ways, as soon as we can start seeing the needs behind the grievances and actions. It's like acquiring an x-ray vision, which is precisely what I teach. Lastly, I'll leave you with a quote which I really like: Managers try to change people. Leaders change the environment.
- woodandsteel 10y ago
  >In my work I use the Nonviolent Communication/Maslow model: every action we take is a strategy to meet a basic human need. There are no "good" or "bad" actions. Some actions meet more needs for more people than others. That's how I think, too. Wouldn't it be great if we could get the whole world working that way?

jvln 10y ago

So true. Three examples perfectly reflects my situation.

secstate 10y ago

I think the biggest challenge to your statement is "listen to what they want." Much of our modern psychology suggests people don't always know what they want, or don't want what they think they want. This is not meant as an insult, as it applies to all humans, whether they're a developer or not. That means that listening is a huge part, but it's not enough to simply implement exactly what you hear they want. All that said, I still totally agree with your examples.

SatvikBeri 10y ago
Yeah, you're totally right. Just literally listening is not enough–you have to ask questions, trace symptoms down to a root cause, and then come up with a good solution for that problem. For example, one person requested that we make standups earlier, because they wanted to get them out of the way before getting into the zone. Another suggested making standups later, because they preferred to start work later in the day. Obviously these solutions as suggested were incompatible. So I tried to figure out what value we were getting from standups, and figured that it was worth experimenting with making them asynchronous using Slack. That worked really well, and is what we do now most of the time. (Occasionally, the team likes having in-person standups when in the middle of a tough series of bugfixes.)
- secstate 10y ago
  Exactly! And kudos on figuring out a system that accomplishes the goal (what's everyone up to), but works well for the most people.
- Drdrdrq 10y ago
  > So I tried to figure out what value we were getting from standups, and figured that it was worth experimenting with making them asynchronous using Slack. Could you please elaborate on what you are doing? We are facing similar problems so I would love to know more...
  - SatvikBeri 10y ago
    I found that I was getting two things from standups: knowing what people were working on, and having a natural time to ask for/offer help. So (for now) we use Geekbot, and configured it to ask everyone on the team four questions each day: –What did you accomplish yesterday? –What is your top priority today? –Where can you use help/what's blocking you? –Which of these best describes your current level of challenge: bored, relaxed, excited, frustrated? Everyone on the team is expected to read each other's standup reports (we have 7 people.)
    - user5994461 10y ago
      Isn't it too much to have this every day? I've found that asking people every day incentivized them to write about anything and invent stuff just to fill up the question.
      - SatvikBeri 10y ago
        All the questions are optional. It's a little more than my team would like, and a little less than I would like to ask each day, so I think it's a fair compromise.
    - AznHisoka 10y ago
      When i did something like this in my prior company I did not care at all what others wrote. i would lie to my manager that i read it but i still did not care.

andrei_says_ 10y ago

I do work around motivation and communication and would like to share some of my experience. In my work I use the Nonviolent Communication/Maslow model: every action we take is a strategy to meet a basic human need. There are no "good" or "bad" actions. Some actions meet more needs for more people than others. Extrinsic motivation (rewards/punishment, or, as I like to simplify it, punishment -- because withholding the carrot is just that), is not sustainable. See Alfie Kohn's Punished by Rewards for an exhaustive list of papers and experiments. The list you provided can be related to basic human needs: > –Feeling like no one is scrutinizing your work to notice whether you're doing a good job or not Unmet needs for appreciation, acknowledgment, contribution > –Feeling like even if you do a good job, you won't be rewarded Unmet need for appreciation. This is tricky, because corporations as entities want to pay as little as possible while extracting as much as possible. So showing appreciation through money is undesirable. Still, people who can easily find better paying jobs elsewhere, do continue working at SpaceX and Tesla despite being underpaid. Mostly because they have a strong sense of purpose and non-monetary appreciation. > –Having to spend a lot of time on uninteresting bureaucracy rather than the work you enjoy Unmet needs for efficiency, purpose > –Being told what to do in extreme detail, without opportunities to think much for yourself Unmet need for competency (being seen as competent), acknowledgment (of intelligence), autonomy (this is the one people start wars for) > –The opposite problem of having too little detail, so you don't really know what problem you're trying to solve Unmet need for clarity –The office being too cold, noisy, etc. Unmet needs around physical and mental well-being > –Constantly working by yourself, when you want to work w/others more Unmet needs around connection, belonging > –Constantly working with others, when you want to work by yourself more Unmet needs around solitude, efficiency, autonomy Many of these can be addressed in simple, constructive ways, as soon as we can start seeing the needs behind the grievances and actions. It's like acquiring an x-ray vision, which is precisely what I teach. Lastly, I'll leave you with a quote which I really like: Managers try to change people. Leaders change the environment.

woodandsteel 10y ago
>In my work I use the Nonviolent Communication/Maslow model: every action we take is a strategy to meet a basic human need. There are no "good" or "bad" actions. Some actions meet more needs for more people than others. That's how I think, too. Wouldn't it be great if we could get the whole world working that way?