3 ms·

One big demotivating factor is forcing people to deliver mediocre stuff. That's the way to loose the best. Many folks are motivated by delivering high quality,

by kerng 8y ago

One big demotivating factor is forcing people to deliver mediocre stuff. That's the way to loose the best. Many folks are motivated by delivering high quality, higher even then the market wants/desires. No need to push or force them - just letting them build the best does a lot of good. There is a book called Peopleware, that discusses that aspect.

scarface74 8y ago
It’s even more demotivating to not have a job to come to because you aren’t delivering value to your paying customers or you didn’t have a product that convinced your investors to keep pumping money into your business. There has to be a balance. The company can’t exist without both customers (either internal or external) and employees.
- tremon 8y ago
  Speaking purely for myself here, but no, that's not as demotivating. Having to deliver crapware is demotivating, because you know that either the customer or yourself will get burnt by entirely preventable problems. Having to chase a new job is stressful, but not as demotivating since you know (or, have faith that) the stress is temporary.
diminoten 8y ago
I don't believe this, but I am curious what your thoughts are (or others) on the questioning of the premise that this job (or any job) needs "the best".
- JepZ 8y ago
  I know that once I motivated two full-stack developers to work a lot more than they were being paid for by saying 'just because the New York Times frontend developers can't do it, doesn't mean we can't do it'. I still feel a bit ashamed when I think about how much time they invested (~160%), but I wasn't forcing them in any way. They knew the total budget from the beginning, and with that in mind, we were setting the scope together. It was their will to deliver the best possible quality which made them work the extra hours. In the end, everybody was happy as the project was pretty successful.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Did they get a bonus or just a pat on the back?
    - JepZ 8y ago
      Probably just a pat on the back :-/ but I don't know since they were employed at a different company. Nevertheless, my feedback towards their team lead was very positive, and that might have helped them too since they both collected a bunch of negative feedback while working with some of my colleagues.
  - taneq 8y ago
    If you demand something from someone, often they'll give it grudgingly, and only as much as they're obligated to give. If you let that same person decide how much to give, especially when they also enjoy their work, often they'll gladly give you much more.
    - scarface74 8y ago
      It’s called “Work To Rule”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-to-rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-to-rule

by kerng 8y ago

scarface74 8y ago

It’s even more demotivating to not have a job to come to because you aren’t delivering value to your paying customers or you didn’t have a product that convinced your investors to keep pumping money into your business. There has to be a balance. The company can’t exist without both customers (either internal or external) and employees.

tremon 8y ago
Speaking purely for myself here, but no, that's not as demotivating. Having to deliver crapware is demotivating, because you know that either the customer or yourself will get burnt by entirely preventable problems. Having to chase a new job is stressful, but not as demotivating since you know (or, have faith that) the stress is temporary.

diminoten 8y ago

I don't believe this, but I am curious what your thoughts are (or others) on the questioning of the premise that this job (or any job) needs "the best".

JepZ 8y ago
I know that once I motivated two full-stack developers to work a lot more than they were being paid for by saying 'just because the New York Times frontend developers can't do it, doesn't mean we can't do it'. I still feel a bit ashamed when I think about how much time they invested (~160%), but I wasn't forcing them in any way. They knew the total budget from the beginning, and with that in mind, we were setting the scope together. It was their will to deliver the best possible quality which made them work the extra hours. In the end, everybody was happy as the project was pretty successful.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Did they get a bonus or just a pat on the back?
  - JepZ 8y ago
    Probably just a pat on the back :-/ but I don't know since they were employed at a different company. Nevertheless, my feedback towards their team lead was very positive, and that might have helped them too since they both collected a bunch of negative feedback while working with some of my colleagues.
- taneq 8y ago
  If you demand something from someone, often they'll give it grudgingly, and only as much as they're obligated to give. If you let that same person decide how much to give, especially when they also enjoy their work, often they'll gladly give you much more.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    It’s called “Work To Rule”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-to-rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-to-rule