BlogSat

I recently had two nearly identical chats with a couple of engineers I'd worked with in the past, and remember a similar chat with a colleague a year or so ago.... Him : "I had a conversation with my manager about my bonus the other day. It was a bad talk." Me: "Why?" Him: "As long as I have enough for food and rent I don't really care as much about how much I make. I just want to work on something I like - But h e kept trying to tell me that the bonus was important. I felt awkward. " Substitute "bonus" for "salary" or "promotion" and I've come to realize how often this conversation takes place. I like the break-up above between "Extrinsic" and "Intrinsic" needs. Why this happens: As a manager or a management team, the direct "extrinsic" reward is the most natural thing to focus on to reward an employee - getting a bonus/promotion/increase takes effort on your part and feels like...

Years ago, in a book whose name now escapes me and I can't find even with my favorite search engine , I remember reading that there were essentially two buckets of how societies thought about organizing themselves and their rules: Bucket 1: societies and religions that believed most people are basically weak or bad - and that rules are needed to protect them from their base instincts and from each other. Bucket 2: those that believed that most people are basically good - and that that rules exist to guide them, help them, and protect them from errors and temptation. Both often ended up with surprisingly similar rules, but there's always a difference in tone, attitude and treatment. As people that build products, its shockingly easy to fall in the first bucket in spite of where you may start. You always first think of serving and delighting the user who needs you (closer to Bucket 2) - but there are plenty of forces pulling you into the depths of Bucket 1. Years ago, I remembe...