
What motivates programmers? - kkim
http://blog.assembleron.com/2007/07/11/what-motivates-programmers/
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geebee
I'm not sure I agree with this article. As a developer, what I want is
autonomy, creativity, and a share of the benefits.

The notion that I'll be happier if you spend $400 on a new monitor or hand it
to me as a bonus misses the point. I'd rather be in a position to evaluate the
needs of the project and influence where we spend our resources, including
money and developer-hours.

Similarly, I don't want to be "given a problem to solve". I want to be
involved enough in the decision making to determine what the problems actually
are. I also think that's where I can add the most value.

I suspect that a developer who wants you to give him a nice monitor and wants
you to give him a task list with problems to solve is probably not a star
employee. You may get some nice, predicatable work out of this person, but
nothing more.

Sometimes that's what you want. After all, someone needs to write the scripts
to batch export the changes in filing status from accounting over to payroll.

But personally, I think that if you're spending a lot of time wondering "how
can I motivate my programmers", you've already lost the game. If you've set up
your environment correctly, and your programmers are actually in the role
where they can give you the maximum benefit, they'll already be motivated.

