How to Motivate Your Developers

FooLab
How to Motivate Your
Developers
Northeast PHP Conference - August 12, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012

View Slide

FooLab
Disclaimer
My advice does not work in all cases.
Don’t blindly “cut-paste”.

View Slide

FooLab
Issues With Devs
• Hard to recruit
• Work on low-priority tasks
• Lack of progress
• Low quality results
• Lack of cooperation (tasks,
directives)
• Resign for unclear reason
3

View Slide

FooLab
Not always by choice
It’s a product of the environment

View Slide

FooLab
How do they perform
on their pet projects?

View Slide

FooLab
Anna Filina
6
• PHP Quebec - user group
• ConFoo - non for proﬁt Web
conference
• FooLab Inc. - IT consulting
• I write code.
• I train and supervise programmers.
• I make recommendations.

View Slide

FooLab
Survival Kit

View Slide

FooLab
Salary
• A study in Quebec shows it’s #1
• For free, they’ll work on what they want
• Pay enough
8

View Slide

FooLab
Positive Culture
• Would you enjoy working for yourself?
• Proud of their job
• Grab a beer with them
9

View Slide

FooLab
Communication
• Feedback is underrated
• Can they be honest with you?
• Can they be honest with the team?
• Can they speak with teammates any time?
10

View Slide

FooLab
Phobias

View Slide

FooLab
Kansas City Collapse
12
• Deadliest structural collapse
in US history
• 114 dead
• 216 injured
• Due to a design change

View Slide

FooLab
Changeophobia
• Change design before you code
• Check impact on other requirements
• Keep project’s objectives in mind
• Stay focused on priorities
13

View Slide

FooLab
Ambiguophobia
• Unclear goals
• “Let’s go over the bug tracker”
• Know your enemy (performance, spaghetti)
• Set goals: measurable, attainable, deadline
• No deadline = no requirement
14

View Slide

FooLab
Deadlineophobia
• Arbitrary deadlines
• Consult devs before promising to client
• Friday deployments
• Overtime: they have nothing better to do, right?
15

View Slide

FooLab
Blameophobia
• So they screwed up
• Laying blame (berate for 20
min)
• It’s everyone’s problem
• Focus on solutions: who has
skill to ﬁx?
• Don’t live in fear
16

View Slide

FooLab
Meetingophobia
• How often?
• How long?
• How crowded?
• 20 people bouncing ideas for hours every week
• Follow outline: did we digress?
• Kill monologues and one-on-one conversations
17

View Slide

FooLab
Small Wins

View Slide

FooLab
Visible Progress
• Life is about the next
achievement
• Break into smaller goals
• Badge at every step
• Can increase difﬁculty
over time
19

View Slide

FooLab
Junior Developers

View Slide

FooLab
Limited Skills
• They can write code
• Don’t ask them to solve complex problems: optimize
database
• Assign a more skilled dev
• Show them how to use the tools
21

View Slide

FooLab
Proving Skills
• Let them have an opinion
• Explain why they’re wrong
• They don’t ask questions
• Afraid to look bad, they feel tested
• Check progress to avoid blocks
• Invite them to ask simple questions
22

View Slide

FooLab
Know Not What to Do
• Can’t guess tasks
• Clear objectives, deadlines, priorities
23

View Slide

FooLab
Need Validation
• Tap on the shoulder when they do well
• Code review; be gentle and ignore non-issues
• Tell them what they could do better
24

View Slide

FooLab
Expert Developers

View Slide

FooLab
Drive The Project
• IE6 compatibility
• Don’t distract; write some docs
• Don’t switch their focus
• Avoid low-level tasks
• They’re analysts and problem solvers
26

View Slide

FooLab
Extinguish Fires
• Constant fires will drain
and piss them off
• Let others fix a few bugs
• Offload simpler tasks
• Let them train others
• Give them vacation time
27

View Slide

FooLab
Need Tools
• They want to be more productive
• Pay the darn license
• Online collaboration
• Let them pick the tools
28

View Slide

FooLab
Micro Managemet
• Time sheets documenting every task (movie
commentator)
• Experts can manage their own time
• Give them autonomy; keep an eye on ROI
29

View Slide

FooLab
Difﬁcult Cases

View Slide

FooLab
Characters
• Make people uncomfortable
• Think they are better
• Pair with patient dev to cool them
• Don’t let them cross the line
31

View Slide

FooLab
A-holes
• Waste time on endless debates
• Create discord or tension between teammates
• Oppressing or humiliating the weak
• Drain energy
• Educate or kick
32

View Slide

FooLab
Emotionally Unstable
• Psychos happen
• Capable of verbal and physical violence
• Worst thing that can happen to your team
• Everyone is scared
• Don’t wait: kick
33

View Slide

FooLab
Let’s Reduce Tension
34

View Slide

FooLab
Unskilled
• Make mistakes; you ﬁx them
• Start many tasks without ﬁnishing
• Drain energy
• Don’t keep them out of pity
• Train if salvageable
35

View Slide

FooLab
Easy Shots Still Work

View Slide

FooLab
Accommodation
• Respect religion / family / health constraints
• Help people learn the language
• Let the shy speak without interruption
• What about watching their country in ﬁnals?
37

View Slide

FooLab
Gadgets
• Desk name plates
• Nerf Guns
• Video games on big
screens
• Ideas on thinkgeek.com
38

View Slide

FooLab
Conferences and Activities
• Most kids enjoyed school
trips
• It’s a break + productivity
increase
• Beer is a sure value
• Let them pick activities
• No activities on weekends
39

View Slide

FooLab
Next Steps
• I will tweet the slides:
@aﬁlina
• Please leave feedback:
http://joind.in/6842
40

View Slide

FooLab
Ask me how many
hours my employee
works

View Slide

How to Motivate Your Developers

How to Motivate Your Developers

Anna Filina
PRO

More Decks by Anna Filina

Other Decks in Education

Featured

Transcript

How to Motivate Your Developers

How to Motivate Your Developers

Anna Filina PRO

More Decks by Anna Filina

Other Decks in Education

Featured

Transcript

Anna Filina
PRO