Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen - Sharpen the Saw for Developers

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Sharpen the Saw for Developers

Posted 2007-08-22 12:20 AM in Learning .NET | Programming.

George emailed me with an interesting question. Paraphrasing George, liberally, what's are some good ways to keep developers sharpening the saw - Covey Habit #7? There's been lots of talk about being a better developer, but what about the unmotivated masses? (Don't worry, we can talk about them, because, since they are unmotivated, they aren't reading blogs.) ;)

The assumption being that for every totally-amped developer who is always striving to get better, there's at least 10 developers who are saying, "Hey, it's 5:01pm, I've just checked in massive changes, can I punch out?"

Here's some ideas, some mine, some Georges. I'm interested in yours:

Give the developers actual set-aside time at work to read technical books.
Build a library of technical books at your office, and dedicate a space or room for reading and reference.
Host technical brown-bags at least twice a month and encourage everyone to present at least every year. (I would say even more...do them weekly at lunch and everyone needs to present at least twice a year)
Encourage developers to attend a local Nerd Dinner to get in touch with other local developers. If you don't have Nerd Dinners, create one.
Have all your developers attend your local .NET User Group. Go one further and get them to present.
Create a formal mentorship program. Build it into the HR Title System. Senior Developers mentor Junior, etc. Formalize the goals for the program with HR and build it into their job description.
Give homework. "We're doing a lot of Threading work lately, here's some assigned reading."
Inspire a culture of learning. If you're (assuming you're the Alpha Geek) not giving off an encouraging and enthusiastic vibe, your developers have little reason to be excited themselves.
Create a Thanks A Bunch Cabinet. Corillian had a great system where peers could reward peers. Our administrator, Kate, had a budget given her by the Engineering Department. I think it was less than $1000 a quarter. She'd go and get as much cool stuff as she could, each under $25. This included iTunes cards, stuff from Sharper Image, Flashlights, just nerdy stuff. If you went above and beyond in some aspect of your job, one of your peers could reward you by sending you to the TABCab. You get to go home with a cool, unexpected free gift, and your peers get to tell you you're appreciated. It was a great system.
Have a real written-down Training Commitment. Your company likely has Health Care as part of the benefits system, and your Human Resources could tell you how much it costs per developer. Get an amount of money (usually a percentage of their pay) dedicated to training, where training is not just in-class time, but also books and conference attendance.
Let your programmers attend Conferences. If culturally appropriate, use the attendance as a carrot.
Twice a year, hold an offsite Company Code Camp. This was another cool thing Corillian did. We included everyone, admins, accounting, sales, everyone. We gave out an interesting problem, created diverse teams, and set them to work to design algorithms, define, write, document, and test some application. The application needs to have universal appeal, so sales and accounting can have fun. One year we did a Word Search (like the kind in the newspaper). Everyone participated and there were reasonably significant prizes.

What do you think, Dear Reader? How do you motivate, inspire, teach, ~~beat~~ encourage your team?

Tuesday, August 21, 2007 11:46:12 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Do you actually make *any* time for your family? There is more to life than work you know.

The Unmotivated Masses.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:41:30 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Personally, I read technical books on the train during my morning commute. I used to read them on the way home but I found that it became more of a chore then and I tended to fall asleep. Now, if I'm reading a technical book, it's just the morning and I read something non-technical on the way home.

I used to work somewhere that had a weekly presentation from different product groups and business groups to everyone. One hour a week and attendance was optional but taken from your normal work time. That was a good way to stay on top of what's going on. I don't think I'd appreciate being given homework or being *expected* to work extra hours all of the time. I punch out at 5 o'clock almost every day but I stay late if something needs to get done and it can't wait until the morning.

Work life balance is important too you know. I'm getting married on Saturday and I probably wouldn't be if I worked somewhere that uses all of your suggestions!

jon

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:50:13 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

These aren't time-consuming suggestions, I think. Going to a Nerd Dinner or User's Group once a month and reading the occassional technical book hardly alienates one from their family. I'm just suggesting a few things that folks who do none of these things could try.

I make lots of time for the family. Just got back from a week-long trip to Rhode Island. No computers or connectivity taken along. :P

Scott Hanselman

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:53:20 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

"Hey, it's 5:01pm, I've just checked in massive changes, can I punch out?" - you assume they use source control! :)

@Unmotivated - clearly you don't read this blog often.

Andrew

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:54:46 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Thanks Andrew. I think I have fine work-life balance. Considering also that I'll be working from home, I say phooey on him. :)

Scott Hanselman

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 1:08:49 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

"Going to a Nerd Dinner"

Oh come on, have you met programmers? We smell and have poor social skills.

;-)

The Unmotivated Masses.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 1:22:29 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I agree, too many managers expect staff to do nothing more than grind corn everyday and never give any thought to motivation other than money (which has been proven to be the least effective motivator time and time again).

At a previous employer we introduced quite a few similar ideas to the above and saw enthusiasm climb through the roof. I remember some points where developers were staying many extra hours (unpaid) because they were so engrossed in their work that we'd have to tell them to go home.

A couple of the more successful additions to the workplace was as follows.

Have a solid rotation policy on projects. Every dept has both exciting development such as 'green field' and the more mundane stuff such as bug fixing, rotate staff so they get a crack at the good stuff as well as the boring stuff, too many depts use there lesser developers to constantly work on the tedium whilst only using their favorite developers to work on the good stuff.

Introduce a guru policy. Select various aspects of development where specialist knowledge will benefit your dept such as security, threading, accessibility etc and each year allow your developers to pair up and select one of the groups. Allow them time to study and work on their selected topic (throw in specific training if you have the budget) with the aim of knowing the topic inside out and producing an educational presentation for the dept, you can also included this as part of their goals to be used in their annual review. The end result is you have guru's which other developers and the company can refer too when needed as well as giving each member of the dept a sense of importance. Pairing provides the advantage of bouncing ideas as well as cover during holidays or retained knowledge if a staff member leaves.

Managers take note, In a place where you spend 30% of your life it's nice to be aware that somebody has an interest in you.

PSG

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 1:32:45 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

That's a nice list of ideas, but I'm not really sure that the omega geeks are going to play along. I mean, I would love to work in a place that did ALL of that stuff, but that's because I'm already pretty motivated. In a way, I think your list is excellent for beta geeks, you know?

If you're really just content with knowing what you know and picking up your paycheck, its probably pretty easy to passively sabotage most of the ideas on the list. You can skim through whatever book they give you at work, say "meeh", and go on doing things the old way. You can never touch a book in the library. You can give really sucky mandatory presentations and not care. And so on and so forth.

I think the crux is to somehow make omega geeks not _want_ to be omega geeks anymore. How you do that is beyond me. It's for people with, like, people skills or something ;-)

einar

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 1:59:08 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I'm a sole .NET developer in a small IT dept, but over the last 2 years I've managed to convince my (non tech) manager for an ongoing 20-book Safari subscription, MS eLearning, MS books to supplement .NET certification, MeasureUp tests and the cost of sitting a MS exam. I'm already working on next year - my carrot is the possibility of TechEd for Developers in 2008 in place of training. So long as these are mutually beneficial then I feel no guilt in asking for them and to date they must feel it helps in keeping me motivated, skilled to do my job and retained in their employment. If I'm ever looking for another job then there's the evidence that will give me a better chance of finding one worth having.

Hypothetically, I would use this kind of sentiment towards unmotivated masses. "Look we realise by providing these training opportunities allied to your potential we risk losing you to another employer. But, it's in our interest to get the best out of everyone." I'm not a team lead so not qualified to verify this approach!

I like the idea of a "Thanks A Bunch Cabinet". Our performance bonuses are based on our attained level over 1 year as dictated by our non-tech manager. It is a source of de-motivation that the bonus is so negligible and the designation of your level is obviously so arbitrary.

Mike

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 3:52:23 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

RE The Thanks A Bunch Cabnet

I've never worked at a company that had one, but at one company I worked at - and probably head the best team spirit, the 3 team leads (I was one) had something similar - we had a bakery downstairs. If someone "did a good thing" - they would tend to come back from lunch - and find a box with a couple of cookies on their desk (one guy left M&Ms - his trademark), and a note "Thanks" - initial by who left the cookies

Well, within a couple of months - it was not only the team leads doing it. All the developers had gotten into the spirit - if someoneone went above and beyond - there would be a cookie, or a bag of M&Ms, sometimes flowers (yes, we had women on the team - and some of the guys liked them too) - whatever - usually something in the $1-3 price range on your desk when you got back from lunch, or a meeting, or whatever..

Our manager also allowed us another fun thing - Friday afternoons, around 3:30 or so, the developers from all 3 teams would get together in the cube farm, and play "stump the team leaders" - The got to ask us trivia about all our develiopment tools - and they kept score. It was also a good time for the teams to explain what they were doing in their projects, and WHY. We always made sure there was a fresh pot of coffee or 2, and some sort of snack

Moral was great - then the company comitted "teamacide" - sigh

KG2V

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 4:00:41 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I really like your ideas. In the company I work for each intern has to hold a presentation over his work and in my opinion this is a pretty good chance to get some fresh ideas.

For me as a young developer talking to ~~older~~ experienced developers is also a pretty good way to learn.

What’s really interesting to me, how do you motivate yourself to do all the stuff?
(Scott maybe you want to blog about your motivation and if you have some your motivation tricks)

Florian

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 4:05:28 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I think no matter what you do, if the developer is not liking what's he's doing, then there's nothing you can do to motivate him. If you can make the developer's "going to work" experience more fun, then probably you will start pushing him out to go back home.

Wessam Zeidan

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 5:21:56 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I read this with interest, but with a cynical mindset. I'm a solo .NET consultant. I've been to a lot of different clients, and one of the constants that I see when I go on-site is a lack of training or interest to train (at the management level) employees. Kind of to bad, as there are a lot of inexpensive ways to build up skills.

Tom Opgenorth

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 5:33:44 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I agree with Wessam. People can't be motivated further, unless they really are.
More so, working with people/company that has this kind of attitude is important.

If I feel I am good & want to be great, I should join company where the path is laid (I have to walk the path anyways)
And also, I will have to convince them that I can do better (although, I am not one of them already)

Also, companies which do have people friendly attitude - would hire only people with proven experience/ability.

Isn't it for those companies to look at people, who can be potentially developed rather than saying "we hire top 2% of the developers"?

For companies, why would they hire people to develop them? they are not into training/mentoring

The practices you mentioned above are for people, who are serious about their profession & companies will have to do these things, if they don't want them to leave.

Nonetheless, its people who are serious will have to invest in themselves. Great post as always.

Kalpesh

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 5:45:41 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

All seem like good ideas.

You definitely have to budget time for people to sharpen their saws,
whether they're motivated or not. Tie these things back into the teams evaluation criteria or goals (not grounds for dismissal of course, but you can't get an excellent or 5/5 eval without fulfilling these criteria).

If sharpening the saw is the goal, then some incentive to prove you've sharpened the saw may be a good idea. Maybe a bonus for passing a related MCP exam and reimbursement for the cost of the exam.

Peter Ritchie

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 5:54:52 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Hi Scott,

You missed out the main thing which is good pay. I work for a government institution where I am paid the least. And the ironic thing is that I am the only one who is reading books and staying up to date with the technology. For me personally a good pay is all I need to get motivated.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 6:35:36 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Scott, I don't know if you know anyone at INETA, but their site seems to think that since I am using Opera that I must be on a cellphone, and that's kind of embarassing for them, so you might want to let them know.

Thanks!

Shawn Hinsey

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 7:50:31 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Good pay doesn't make better developers...

Eran Kampf

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 8:39:22 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I like the majority of these suggestions, but I think this is more appropriate for full-time grinders than it may be for independents - then again, that's probably why they call it "independent". ;)

I've been lucky enough to be able to bring some significant change to the group of other consultants that I work with to some degree, but I can't say that this would happen on most independent projects. Am I wrong?

Justice~!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 9:00:55 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Great ideas/list Scott. You sound like a great person to work with or for! Good luck working at Microsoft. Do you think eventually you'll end up moving to Redmond?

GuyIncognito

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 9:01:50 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Some of these are good ideas, but others are simply wishful thinking. Setting time aside to read, encouraging user group attendance, etc. is fruitless since those motivated to do so will all ready be doing so and those requiring direction will simply complain about it. I believe good work habits are the responsibility of the worker. Maybe I've been fortunate to work in shops where the deadline was the goal, and I was trusted to reach that goal on my own, but given that freedom, I've always structured my day to include time for study etc. And still maintained a good work-life balance. The best thing to do is simply separate the wheat from the chaff. If you have to tell someone to study their craft, inspire someone to interact with fellow craftsmen, or reward them for quality that should be standard (yes I, too, remember the Corillian gift cabinet, which was/is pretty cool, but as for "free gifts"....aren't gifts, by definition, free?) are they the folks you want coding in the first place?

I do, however, very strongly agree about a formalized training program, and add that it should be a very well funded formalized training program. The mentorship concept is also absolutely essential. The most successful shops I have seen have a culture of mentorship, ans eschew the "figure-it-out-or-work-somewhere-else" mentality that sometimes infests our craft. Add to that, along with encouraging mentors to speak at user groups, to also teach college classes, even if not for credit. I learned more about my craft by teaching it than I did by studying it, and I was rewarded by passing knowledge along. It's one of the finest things you can do for your craft, if not your career.

Tony

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 9:06:53 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Hi Eran,

Good pay does not make better developers but it keeps them motivated. I worked on 3 different projects alone (sole developer) but after the 3 projects my pay was still the same. It's just there is nothing to look forward to. You work for something right!! When there is no something then there is no use of the work.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 9:48:38 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Hey Scott, I've flagged this post to my Google Bookmarks.

As to your unwashed masses thing you're more right than you know. Jeff Atwood brought up something interesting (here's the reply)
http://gatesvp.blogspot.com/2007/08/coding-horror-leading-by-example.html
along the lines of trying to get developers to sharpen the saw. And let's face it most people don't actually want to be all-stars.

Me, I'm loving your series on the code reading, I'll probably show this off to my co-workers soon :)

Gates VP

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 10:16:35 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

INETA's website does a bad job of putting info on locating your local user group. Browsing their site for 5 minutes, I still can't find this info.. unless I need to join?
Also some of their links do nothing... like the link for .NET resources.

abdu

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 11:16:53 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

The mentorship program is a wonderfull idea!

Sebastien Lachance

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:46:10 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I think lots of the points you make are excellent and I'm happy to report that we do most of them. I do however think we are a break from the norm. I can order books and claim on expenses, I am going to Mix07 UK next month. I also go to my local user group meeting. However, its not suggested for me to go to Mix, I ask. I do think though I am lucky to work at such a place where I have a training budget and they pay for me to go to conferences in the big smoke etc!

Not sure about this speaking about a subject thing! I am not the a lead dev though and my lead (and mentor ish...) does like to talk. Which suits me as I dont! I am not convinced on how public speaking can make me a better developer. I can read about a subject, know a subject, even blog about a subject but speaking about it...yikes, rather not!

Some of the ideas like the "Company code camp" and "Thanks a bunch cabinet" I think are really for larger companies - personnally I would prefer company outings to be some kind of adventure thing! Paint balling, go karting and the like!! But generally are just "offsite lunch down the pub"! Brown Bag thing - never heard of that, what is it?!?!?

On the comment of the masses being generally clock watchers, why would I want to go out of my way to change them? Surely, me being driven and motivated gives me the/an edge?? Not saying that I dont share stuff but seriously, you want the knowledge - read the book, not the review. Perhaps my view would change if I was the owner/boss/lead !?!

Steve

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 1:46:37 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Sharpening a developer's saw would be possible by creating an environment which supports creativity, relaxation and free thinking. Having a quite room with classical music and a dimmed light might improve one's mind state and may help to find alternative ways to solve a problem. Spending 5 minutes in a room like this may give enough power to charge your brain.

Adding antidepressants to coffee machine secretly may also be good. :-)

Gurkan Yeniceri

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 1:50:30 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Very interesting post, but I think these comments are even more fascinating. Some of them really confuse me, some shock me, others offer some interesting insight. Quite a bit to digest now, thanks for doing this Scott. Greatly appreciated!

Not sure if I know exactly what I'm going to do, but at least I have a lot more to think about...

Thanks again!

George Clingerman

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 2:57:01 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

>Very interesting post, but I think these comments are even more fascinating. Some of them really confuse me, some shock me, others offer some interesting insight

+1. Emphasis on shock

Sam Gentile

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 8:48:12 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Great list...but man, there's just so much you can try to push yourself when management is so unenlightened. Can I work with you?

Set aside time to read -- where I work, "time to read" is considered by management as "you are bored, so you are twiddling your thumbs", or "only if you need to use it on your current project, then spend time at work reading." "Down" time between projects is frowned upon.

Technical brown-bags -- we do this, although not as much as we should.

Local .NET group -- I'm the co-chair of the local user group, but trying to get my staff to attend is like pulling teeth. A couple show up here and there, mainly because I'm involved, but most treat this as a "job", and don't have the passion. But there is one guy who will actually be presenting. He's one of the few with the bug for this.

Formal mentorship program -- great idea. It's very informal where I work, but one of the things I enjoy the most.

Give homework -- I would love to do this, but legally, don't we have to be very careful about telling employees how to spend their off-time? We do "suggest" this all the time.

Attend conferences -- Management does not consider conferences a true "learning" environment. I had to pay AND use vacation time to attend DevConnections last year, and learned more, and applied more to my than from any other training I've received in years. Explained this to management, and STILL got no reimbursement. Sigh...

Another thing I'd add is to have other "learning lunches" in addition to brown-bags, where you would project videos like dnrTV in a conference room, where everyone is invited to sit in and discuss. I've planned this for ages, but haven't committed to it yet.

Mark Freedman

Thursday, August 23, 2007 12:38:29 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Give homework. "We're doing a lot of Threading work lately, here's some assigned reading."

This gets into the whole problem I had with college. I had 400 and 500 level classes where there was "assigned homework" and "attendance" and that always drove me up the wall. I wouldn't have been in a masters program if I didn't want to learn. Anyways, after thinking about why I was irked by this, I came to the following conclusion.

I think forcing people to do something is not the right way to encourage learning. In fact telling people what to do will only make them want to do it less.

Personally, I would treat people like intelligent adults. After all, these are most likely well educated and sincere folk (and if HR did a good job, they are also motivated and keen on learning in their own time). This is fostering the "culture of learning" which is on your list but its not just 1 or 2 people spearheading the way. The whole company is involved in this.

For instance, I eat lunch with a lot of my co-workers and inevitably, I will mention something I did or tried and that will peak the interest of the early adopters of the group. Then as they start talking about it more, others listening to us also consider trying things out themselves.

In conclusion, I would say again. Do not force/strongly encourage/place in head-lock/twist arm/negotiate to try to get people to learn. It might give temporary results but what about the next technology and the next. Also consider what that would do to morale and productivity not to mention that now, nobody will want to sit and chat with you for fear of being given something else to do. Learning should be fun and self-motivated. Nudge gently please. :-)

Sushant Bhatia

Thursday, August 23, 2007 12:47:07 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Addition:

Technical training is good. But to make truly well rounded developers, let other departments such as marketing and sales or accounting etc. give talks to developers who are interested. The more a developer learns about his/her company and how it functions, the better off the company will be.

For instance, I would love to learn about how accounting works at my company. How do they predict the resources they need? How do they make sure that they are not in the red? In consulting, how does the bid process work? etc.

Sushant Bhatia

Thursday, August 23, 2007 1:29:47 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Hey!
Thanks for this tips, i m going to apply it :)

Paydigitalway

Thursday, August 23, 2007 4:02:57 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Thanks for the list. I've come away with some new ideas. I really like the idea about the dedicated space for a technical library.

I am a little unmotivated at work, but outside of work I try to read, attend user groups and listen to lots of podcasts (1 hour commute each way). I tried starting a Lunch and Learn type session at work, but it did not last long.

Your blog and podcast have been a big part of my continuous learning. Keep up the great work.

Rhonda Tipton

Thursday, August 23, 2007 4:24:43 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Scott, you forget that typical bosses don't read your blog either..... ;-)

They are the ones who usually control the working lifestyle and culture.

Aaron Seet

Thursday, August 23, 2007 4:31:18 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

While not a typical development shop, we do hold occasional "Geek Outs" where we all get around the room and discuss standards, new technologies, best practices, etc.

Brent Humphreys

Thursday, August 23, 2007 10:10:26 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Great list, I can only think of one thing to add: Pay competitively and rewardingly for helping the company move forward. If the company doesn't pay well or even reward their employees for coming up with new products or new ways of doing things then there's no incentive for them to do so.

Yes, the Work + Life balance is a difficult one; especially being as passionate about technology as "we" are. I've pretty much cut out watching TV and that freed up all kinds of time. I'm even going to be working from home soon, so there will be no more 1.5 - 2 hours of commute driving each day. Now if only I could figure out how to live without sleep like Hanselman does...

Chris Pietschmann

Thursday, August 23, 2007 12:54:05 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Unfortunately I think Aaron has a good point. At a previous employer I constantly fought for more "team building". It worked occasionally: brown bag talks, books, etc. But never enough to make an impact on the team dynamics - which were deplorable. To celebrate a release I personally paid over $150 to take the team out for pool/appetizers/drinks. I was trying to make a point and was sure one of the owners would approach me about expensing the "party". No such luck.

Regardless, I like post and the more people talk about this the better developer's lives will get.

I guess another idea (that would be hard to get approved in a small business) is the Google method of allowing people to spend 20% of their time on new ideas. Wow, what a dream.

MattH

Thursday, August 23, 2007 3:11:21 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

MattH, my reply to your comment (and by wider implication, to this whole article) grew a little too involved, so I turned it into a blog post:
About Team Building

Philipp Schumann

Thursday, August 23, 2007 4:33:57 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

While I can agree with the gist of all this, I have to strongly disagree with some of these ideas.

The technical brown-bags idea is horrible. The lunch hour belongs to the employee, not the employer. The suggestion that this time be hijacked by the employer is flat-out offensive. You might be able to get away with it by paying for the lunch but what are you going to do about the employees who like to do other things with their lunch time such as going to the gym?

Giving "homework" is even worse. I voluntarily do a large amount of work-related reading on my free time but the second you give me "assigned reading", I'm going to be a very unhappy employee.

I understand that these ideas are directed at the unmotivated masses but it seems likely to me that what you're going to accomplish by all of this is alienating the already motivated employees when some of these things start spilling into their lives. How would you even enforce any of this? What would the punishment be for employees who didn't do their homework?

I suspect the unmotivated wouldn't be particularly motivated by any of this since they're, by definition, unmotivated. Maybe the best way of dealing with the unmotivated masses is to simply avoid hiring the unmotivated.

Dave

Thursday, August 23, 2007 4:49:51 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Good points, but I never said that the lunch stuff was required. I figured if the topic was interesting that the developers would just stick around. At my last company, we tried to bring in outside interesting speakers.

I'm really surprised you don't like the brownbags idea. That's been radically successful at all the company's I've worked at.

Scott Hanselman

Thursday, August 23, 2007 4:54:10 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Dave, I agree that you can't force someone reading "homework" (and I believe that even requiring this is illegal), but I think that brown-bag lunch meetings are meant to be optional. Some people would welcome those, since many are often so busy, that they're eating at their desk while continuing to work anyway. And some of us more geeky types consider these to be great ways to spend their free time. Of course, others could feel pressure to go to these, because others may consider them not as dedicated if they don't attend, so it also depends on the culture of the company.

At the same time, the people who do participate, and who do take the time to read at home, usually end up being those people who "get ahead" and get promoted before others, quite simply because they are more dedicated to increasing their skill level.

That's why, when I interview people for a job, I'm also looking for their passion level for the field. The people who don't just treat this as a "job," and who love doing what they do are always going to welcome these opportunities for growth. Then it's a non-issue, and none of these options look like anything but great opportunities and a great environment (save possibly the "required reading" -- but they'd naturally seek that out, anyway, without asking).

Mark Freedman

Thursday, August 23, 2007 9:16:52 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

>> Do you actually make *any* time for your family? There is more to life than work you know.

I am the alpha geek in my team. And also the one who works the fewest hours (I work very fast). The two are not incompatible.

Matthew

Friday, August 24, 2007 12:53:18 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Don't get me wrong. I love the concept behind the technical brown-bags. I just think there are better times than lunch to hold them, particularly if it's going to be as frequent as once a week.

Dave

Friday, August 24, 2007 6:06:20 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Hey Now Scott,
Good Post, I like the Code Camp idea, when people leave a code camp they are much more motivated & educated.
Thx,
Catto

Catto

Saturday, August 25, 2007 12:24:52 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Some things I’ve tried (and seen tried) to motivate people:

* Giving the developer the choice of what they want to develop (“would you rather build component A or B”), so they feel more ownership

* Encourage developers to build reusable-components that others will use. Knowing that others will use your code makes it more interesting

* On longer projects, pointing to specific examples of how dong it “right” (which usually required active motivation) ultimately saves time and makes it more interesting.

Tim Stall

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 12:32:12 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

You have great ideas!
Here are some other ideas:
1. Create a real culture in your team – same uniform(like t-shirt with team logo), same team signature in mail messages, cool team business card, put some pictures with your team members and some technical content and more…
2. Give them to be gurus in new technologies. Each developer will lead this new subject, give a lecture about it, write some infrastructure and documentation about how to use it and answers the entire questions about it.
3. About the user group – you should push them to lecture about some familiar technology for them in this conference. Help them to build their presentation, ask them if they want to lecture in front of you before the real lecture and give them a feedback.
4. Lead and help them to open a technical blog. Explain the benefits of it. Read their blogs and write some comment there (questions that you have or just a good compliment for a good post).
5. Ask your developers about their interest tasks and try fitting each one the most suitable task for him.