It's hard to believe that a cheap stuffed toy made in China with your company logo on it isn't enough to motivate the troops. A successful project means motivated developers. But how do you keep them motivated? Jason Tee has five tips, of which two are really worth mentioning:

1. Fire Dead Wood. That's good advice. And we're not simply talking about Machiavellian office politics. Okay, maybe we are. Nothing gets people off Facebook and into the debugger like seeing security walk the guy in the cubicle beside you out the door.

2. Get your developers on new software. As Jason says in the article: "Programmers want to be developing in Java 7, not a seven year old version of Java." Amen to that Jason. Amen to that.

Five Ways to Motivate Developers

let's be honest, the one and only motivational boost comes from a big pile of cash strategically positioned behind major milestones....

Agree about the security guy and carboard box though....

That's the thing, though. From what I've seen, most programmers are paid well. And with the exception of the arrogant and overbearing ScrumMaster, the programmers I've seen lead pretty humble lives. I don't think money is too often the motivator. It may be the de-motivator after putting up with a bunch of crap, but I don't think senior Java developers want to work weekend for time and a half - they want to work weekends when they're challenged and engaged. So, how do you keep them engaged?

As I said before, random firings work best. It keeps everyone on their toes.

I guess random firings might only work for "dead wood" itself. For people who can get a job else where this might do quite the oposite.

Why would I engage in a project, if I'm not sure whether I'll be working on it tomorrow or I'll be randomly fired? Better yet, I'll try start seeking for a better job right away.

Motivation is the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain goal directed behaviors. resumes planet review

About the random firings: I personally don't believe in that for many reasons, first of all for the social implications. How could you motivate a bunch of people by randomly firing trough them? it is going to end up in a scenario where being good or not doesn't matter, so why get engaged?

The real question is: why do you need committed and engaged professionals? IMHO, you need that when you want them to run the extra mile. And the best way to have them doing so is by empowering them, calling them in in strategic meetings, make the best guys in your team understand they can make the difference.

I don't think people should be rewarded for having done a good job, that's why you hired them.

1. Fire Dead Wood. That's good advice. And we're not simply talking about Machiavellian office politics. Okay, maybe we are. Nothing gets people off Facebook and into the debugger like seeing security walk the guy in the cubicle beside you out the door.

I personally find this attitude revolting, but not surprising in a culture that puts cash and abstract goals ahead of the well-being of actual people. The people who write this kind of stuff are personality disorders hiding behind some kind of lazy Randian pseudo-philosophy.

There is a germ of truth here though, if you have an employee who refuses to work and after several interventions, coaching etc. then it is demoralizing to have someone not work but still get paid. That goes in any situation though, be it a family or any group dynamic.

The 'random firings' comment was being facetious. Was just trying to be amusing, not trying to 'troll.' But getting rid of 'dead wood' really is the right thing to do.

>>if you have an employee who refuses to work and after several interventions, coaching etc.

Yeah, basically, that's pretty much my definition of 'dead wood.'

>>then it is demoralizing to have someone not work but still get paid. 

Which is exactly why you'd want to get rid of them. Basically, it's cutting out the cancer on your team before it spreads.

My apologies then. I assumed a certain context, I was wrong.

My comments, and my original description of the article were at odds, something an editor isn't supposed to do, so I don't think your comments need any apology whatsoever. Your points are valid. Mine needed clarification.

Does the person writing this article have any management experience?

Attack the article, not the person!

You may attack away.

usually, everyone on the team knows who the dead wood is. It's quite demotivating to have dead wood lying around, being the SPOF whether as a sme on the domain or the systems. I actually think that tuning this way is a positive message to the team members doing the work that their efforts won't be allocated (whether through bonuses, cash, whatever) to others who aren't motivated.

Do things that appeal to developers who want to excel. One thing we do is have code wars (one tomorrow - live blogging it at Windward Wrocks) where all the developers compete with each other to see who can write the best code.

How does this motivate? For a couple of reasons. First it boosts morale and does so with something that is programming-centric. Second it celebrates writing awesome code quickly which is what you want every day.

great advices to keep motivated hollywood crossword puzzles

thanks for posting this...a good motivation helps a lot

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it really works!

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