
Average environments beget average work - pbnaidu
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1164-average-environments-beget-average-work
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staunch
I think an important factor is missing: personal gain. At 37signals their
income is tied directly to the quality of their work. That's just not the case
in larger companies and it seems a pretty big hurdle to overcome.

There's a lot you can do to motivate people besides money, but in my
experience it's fairly superficial motivation. It's enough to make work
pleasant and keep people contented, but not enough to really kick ass. Google
is a perfect example.

The only times I've seen teams of people do their best possible work is when
they believed there'd be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (measly
bonuses don't count). Money is as close to a silver bullet for motivation as
I've ever seen. When the promise of riches is in sight all the smaller things
just don't matter. When it's not there all the smaller things are the only
things that matter.

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ojbyrne
Some people (see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming>) argue that
in fact personal gain is the worst way to motivate people - it makes them game
the system - and there's plenty of examples out there to back up his point.

Instead he has argued for "pride of workmanship" as the best way to motivate
people, as long as you don't actually demotivate people by paying them too
little, treating them like shit, etc.

I can see both sides to the argument, the problem with the gold at the end of
the rainbow is that it's uncertain, and there's no better way to demotivate
people unintentionally than for it to disappear.

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ojbyrne
And just to expand on this, Deming's theories are based on the pyschological
theory "Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs" which says that the ultimate motivation
is "self-actualization" - that once you have satisfied more base needs
(survival, procreation, money) this is what drives most people to achieve.

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pchristensen
Pretty classic quote: "That’s not to say that we’re all created equal and that
star power can be unlocked with hippie music and sandals alone. Just that
there’s a ton of untapped potential trapped under crappy policies, poor
direction, and stifling bureaucracies. People [are] waiting to do great work
if given the chance."

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wallflower
> ...quit thinking about how you can land a room full of rock stars and ninjas
> (note to recruiters: even if these terms weren’t just misguided, they’d be
> tired by now anyway)

Thank you..

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jodrellblank
Do they? Or are you defining average environments as those environments in
which average work is done?

The PG-recommended startup plan consists of several people sharing low cost
living-and-working space and living on instant noodles, yet doing above
average work.

The direction of cause and effect doesn't seem as clear cut as DHH suggests.

