First, run, don't walk, to the nearest bookstore and find a copy of The Deadline -- A Novel About Project Management by Tom DeMarco. It's the single most useful book on software development I've ever read, and a fun little adventure story to boot. DeMarco is a well known writer and analyst, and I can't begin to praise him highly enough.

Second, I've always found that one simple rule of thumb works very well: "when you see something you like, applaud like hell." People will crawl through barbed wire for positive feedback, but in most business settings, you bust ass and hear, "oh.. okay. Here's your next assignment." And often as not, you get a list of "things that could be improved."

By and large, techs are especially eager to please. We crawl around in the dark places of technology trying to make something neat happen, and when the neatness does happen, we want a pat on the head, dammit. I hold it as a point of faith that a plate of home-made chocolate chip cookies will get you access to just about anything not actually secured for life-safety reasons.

Break the requirements down into simple "do X" language, then haul out the chocolate chip cookies when somebody does X. And remember that statements like "validate your data" may mean something to you, but they're meaningless noise to someone who lacks a definition for that term. Programmers don't usually code significantly worse than they can, so recognize that you're probably dealing with a lack of knowledge, and find ways to teach this guy new ideas.

In reply to Re: (OT) Motivating the Unmotivated Programmer by mstone
in thread (OT) Motivating the Unmotivated Programmer by Ovid

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