Going the Extra Mile – Why Bother?

Having recently been involved with a team that was being exhorted to “step up” and “go the extra mile” I noticed a range of responses from “lets go” to “why bother” to “I don’t think so”. After thinking about the response I identified several personal factors:

1) Internal motivation: some people are just go getters, you love to have them on your team, but sometimes they are seen as little puppies by other members of the team because they are perceived as being overly eager to please. Motivating this type of person is trivial.

2) Internal ambivalence: some people just don't have that drive. "Programming as a job" is an attitude that some in our industry have. These people do a good job while they are at work, but when they are not at work – they aren’t. Motivating this type of person is more difficult since your have to convince them that the extra hours are worth it to them. The typical example for internal ambivalence is the programmer who don’t read technical material, go to conferences or training. They expect to pick up everything they need to know between 9 and 5.

3) External personal distraction: there are those who may have the internal drive, but because of various personal/external reasons choose to place other priorities in front of work. Motivating this person is not likely to succeed without significant effort because they have consciously prioritized their work life at a lower level. An example here is the developer who’s wife just had twins and is bed ridden. Attempting to get this person to spend more time at work boarders on malfeasance.

There are also a couple of factors the motivator brings to the table:

1) Trustworthiness: in several jobs I have seen otherwise motivated individuals who don't respond to motivators because the individual has determined that the motivator is not trustworthy. Thus any promise in the world will not help because the individual doesn't believe the messenger.

2) Disagreement: Closely related to trustworthiness is when the individual doesn't agree with the path the motivator is proposing. This one is trickier since this could just be resistance to change.

3) Approach: here the individual is not being motivated correctly, the carrot is offensive, or the individual is just not interested in that particular carrot. Typically money is used as a motivator, but money is not equally important to everyone. A great example here is the “employee of the month” award – I bet you can’t find developers who are motivated by this kind of reward.

Which kinds of motivating factors have you seen work for or against the desired outcome?

11 Comments

  • I once worked massive hours of OT on a project. 5 weeks of 6-day a week work followed by 6 weeks of 7-days a week, followed by 2 days off for Thanksgiving, followed by more 6 and 7 days weeks, up to and including missing the company Christmas party because I was at the client's office until after 9 pm that Saturday night. The carrot for me was a large bonus that was coming at Christmas and had been promised for over 6 months.

    The bonus never came but excuses were given for about a year for why. After that, the bonus magically turned from "just not possible" to "never promised". needless to say, I didn't stay with the company very long after that.

    It has been hard for me to trust anyone regarding money after that.

  • Trust is a big issue. I worked on one project where our team trusted management (the technical side of mgmt, anyway), and everyone on the team worked their butts off, willingly.



    Then, through a series of mismanagement actions, we became aware of how our technical managers acted under pressure. Basically they caved in and kept asking us to give more and more. So we gave less and less as the trust eroded. And, due to a convenient reorganization, no bonuses were handed out.



    Needless to say, I eventually left the company. But not before having them pay for all my certifications and a bunch of technical books!

  • Too often this "motivation" is needed to solve the following situation.

    [rant]

    1. We told you it wouldn't happen

    2. You promised the client it would happen.

    3. We have done what we said could be done, but you never told us that you promised the client what we said couldn't be done.

    4. You are blaming us, and you need us to pull your ass out of the fire.

    [/rant]



    Trust is a big issue, and the "motivator" person is not really on the same team as the rest. The task will often be given to the least useful, least respected person on the project.







  • I've just been through a situation which was very similar. A tender requiring a response came out from a customer a week prior to Xmas. We had 7 days to respond (including the weekend). Some members of the "team" said "I do not work weekends." Others said "Let's get it done, whatever it takes." Some said "I'm not working while I'm on leave." Others said "I'll postpone my leave a week" or "hey if you only need an hour of my time, to go over a document, no problems".



    Why the difference? I can't tell. I think it is an internal thing. When money and prestige aren't involved, people just do things because of how they are wired. I haven't worked with many people who can motivate others to do what they do not want to do. All you can do is give people reasons to do something they may not have thought of by themselves.



    BTW, I have twins and young twins at home is a reason to work LONGER hours, believe me. :-)

  • No-one seems to have mentioned the thing which probably gets a lot of us out of bed in the morning - a love for what we do. I work as a developer because I'm passionate about developing. That's my motivation. Put me in a job as, say, an accountant, and my motivation for doing that job would be very different. I might still try to do a good job for the sake of personal pride, or the promise of more money, but I wouldn't be passionate about it. Love is the answer :-)

  • Early in my career, I would "sign up" for lots of stupid overtime, crunches, pushes to make the date. I postponed vacations, dates, and all kinds of other social events to "give my all" to the project. One day, I realized that working all that overtime just made me stupid and that I couldn't save the project.



    Now, when a manager thinks that the answer to the project being in trouble is to add more hours, I ask him/her to think instead about what they can remove from the project to meet the deadline. The project can't complete as originally promised, so stop trying to make it that way. Instead, work like the devil (during the normal work week) to complete what you can. Sometimes my clients even do what I suggest :-)

  • Spot on! There are way too many of the “Programming as a Job” developers around. I think the fact that so many people in this industry refuse to improve themselves outside of the 9-5 workweek cycle is a major hurdle to creating quality software. In a field that moves as fast as this, one simply cannot afford to stop learning. I look at what I did last year and I realize that it was not the best work I could have produced, BUT I have not stopped reading and learning and I am getting better every day.

    The best motivator I have seen for developers is success. Even if the creation of an application has some rocky times, all is forgotten when the product ships. I look back at the times I felt happy to work in a company and they all center around having successfully delivered a quality product on time.

  • I am working in a big company, with lots of projects. When the job is handed out, the deadline is also a few day's or a week. The people who handled the projects must finished it but the boss is never around.. The day when promotions is in line the people who support the company the most is not in line for promotion. You can checked it, 95% it is people who stayed away, 2 time's a week on sick leave.

    Thank You very much

  • I've found the more you do, the harder you work, the more capabilities you add to your arsenal you only get more pushed your way. You also become the example that everyone else should begrudgingly strive to be. In my business bonuses are mute since everyone gets them whether or not they've earned them and there is ALWAYS a 3-4% cap on yearly increases which everyone gets as well. Hardly noticeable on your paycheck. Don't waste your life pushing yourself. I did the 10-12 hour work days for 4 years. Now I'm out the door at 5 and, just because I love my work, I sit back at home and create what I want when and if I want.

  • Why go the extra mile? In what other areas of your life do some of these attitudes and behaviours show up? Do you likewise view people who go the extra mile for you in your relationships with distrust? It is not all about the money. It (life) is about relationship and contribution. This does not mean you have to put in 10-12 hour days all your life. But do you just put in what is required for your 38-40 hours each week? If you only put in what is required you will only ever be paid what you are worth. If you are only worth 30 hours of that 38-40 hours then as an employer I would be reluctant to pay you any more than what is required. However those in my employment that go the extra mile are compensated.

    But as stated previously it is not necessarily about the money or putting in extra hours but in your approach to all the things you do in your life.

    So I ask again how do you all show up in your lives? Be honest. If you were the boss how would you show up? If you had to pay the bills and salaries how would you really reward people?

    In what ways in all the other areas of your own lives are you going the extra mile? How about your kids, your wife, your mother? Do you do what is needed or beyond expectations. Try going the extra mile in the important areas of your life and then change your relationships at work to how you would treat your own family and see the difference.

    I dare you!

  • Dear Wayne... Thank you for raising this very important topic.  While I realize your initial post was from several years ago, it still contains relevant and important information.   I believe that I have added some important thoughts on the matter in my October blog post.  Thanks for your thoughts

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