On Stanier (2020), 5th chapter:
Staff motivators using Maslow as a basis
Motivation can be coded using Maslow's hierarchy of needs. From the bottom to the top:
- Physiological: being paid fairly
- Safety: job and psychological safety
- Love/belonging: you want to work with people you like and admire. You also want to maintain good relationships with those people
- Esteem: formal and informal recognition
- Self-actualization: challenge and growth
It might be worthwhile reflecting on what those items mean to yourself and to your team. How can you ensure that those needs are met?
To see some examples, please check out inside the book
To see a slightly similar take on motivation: Motivation according to Daniel Pink's Drive
The zone of proximal development
Learning happens in three steps:
- Something cannot be done
- Something can be done with assistance
- Something can be done without assistance
Lev Vygotsky introduced during the 1930s the idea of a zone of proximal development. And this is what happens on step (2).
When it comes to work, we can apply this idea at two levels:
- Task: always try to delegate tasks that are on the zone of proximal development for your staff
- Career: help people establish steps to achieve their goals. The book uses gaming skill trees as an example. Also try to keep steps within the zone of proximal development
The Cathedral and the Bazaar applied to management
Raymond (1999) is a foundational text when we think about open source today (circa 2021). You can argue that most developers (maybe most people?) fall somewhere between one of the ends between Cathedral builders and Bazaar browsers.
- A Cathedral builder values depth, stability and mastery.
- A Bazaar browser thrives in the new and in the moving chaos. They value breadth over depth.
The author states that it is a good exercise to figure out where you and where your team members lie in the cathedral builder - bazaar browser spectrum.