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I don’t really like the idea that Need, Belief, Opportunity, and Anticipation are the drivers of engineering as opposed to money and personal growth. I’m not su

I don’t really like the idea that Need, Belief, Opportunity, and Anticipation are the drivers of engineering as opposed to money and personal growth. I’m not surprised though because these guys appear to be Scrum Consultants who want to tell software orgs they can improve productivity by paying them for “training” rather than paying employees more for work. Ultimately what I want as a software engineer employee is my own personal success. I actually identify a lot more with their “Business Management” step: I want incentives to be aligned and I will be motivated to do great work if I feel like I can share in that success. Yes it’s easier to get up in the morning if I’m working on something that’s overall successful, but that would be negated if I couldn’t get a piece of that. This seems to fit into the more common trope that engineers are easily fooled into working for less pay than they should be getting through bullshit like “vision”. Even if I’m working on something cool I’m not going to be happy to just make someone else rich. If I only cared about solving a problem I would just write OSS.

IggleSniggle 6y ago
It's a continuum. I would just write OSS but for the need of a paycheck. I'm not fooled, I just don't care about money as much as I care about software, and so I put my time and effort into learning about how to optimize software, not money.
Kinrany 6y ago
"Financial Management" step also solved an incentive alignment problem: it created a way for investors to cooperate with the organization. But these two steps are different: the second one aligned the organization with its workers, but the first one aligned the organization with investors. Assuming this trend will continue, the third step will align the organization with some other group.
devdas 6y ago
Your personal motivation appears to be entirely extrinsic. For a lot of people, the motivation is intrinsic. After a certain amount of money, more money wouldn't bring me joy. Money is a floor, not a ceiling.
- kag0 6y ago
  I used to think this about myself (and I do still think money is a floor, not a ceiling). But I've come to realize that there are two monetary thresholds for me. A lower threshold after which more money doesn't bring me more joy, and a higher one (which is the real floor) which is compensation compared to others/the industry/the area. Although I try not to think this way, it's hard to feel recognized or appreciated when my compensation is much lower than others.

IggleSniggle 6y ago

It's a continuum. I would just write OSS but for the need of a paycheck. I'm not fooled, I just don't care about money as much as I care about software, and so I put my time and effort into learning about how to optimize software, not money.

Kinrany 6y ago

"Financial Management" step also solved an incentive alignment problem: it created a way for investors to cooperate with the organization. But these two steps are different: the second one aligned the organization with its workers, but the first one aligned the organization with investors. Assuming this trend will continue, the third step will align the organization with some other group.

devdas 6y ago

Your personal motivation appears to be entirely extrinsic. For a lot of people, the motivation is intrinsic. After a certain amount of money, more money wouldn't bring me joy. Money is a floor, not a ceiling.

kag0 6y ago
I used to think this about myself (and I do still think money is a floor, not a ceiling). But I've come to realize that there are two monetary thresholds for me. A lower threshold after which more money doesn't bring me more joy, and a higher one (which is the real floor) which is compensation compared to others/the industry/the area. Although I try not to think this way, it's hard to feel recognized or appreciated when my compensation is much lower than others.