Exploring motivational differences between software developers and project managers

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we describe our investigation of the motivational differences between project managers and developers. Motivation has been found to be a central factor in successful software projects. However the motivation of software engineers is generally poorly understood and previous work done in the area is thought to be largely out-of-date. We present data collected from 6 software developers and 4 project managers at a workshop we organized at the XP2006 international conference.

REFERENCES

• 1: Sarah Beecham , Helen Sharp , Nathan Baddoo , Tracy Hall , Hugh Robinson, Does the XP environment meet the motivational needs of the software developer? An empirical study, Proceedings of the AGILE 2007, p.37-49, August 13-17, 2007 [doi>10.1109/AGILE.2007.22]
• 2: Barry W. Boehm, Software Engineering Economics, Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1981
• 3: Luiz Fernando Capretz, Personality types in software engineering, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, v.58 n.2, p.207-214, February 2003 [doi>10.1016/S1071-5819(02)00137-4]
• 4: Tom DeMarco , Timothy Lister, Peopleware (2nd ed.): productive projects and teams, Dorset House Publishing Co., Inc., New York, NY, 1999
• 5: Goldstein, D. K. and Rockart, J. F. (1984). An Examination of Work-related Correlates of Job Satisfaction in Programmer/Analysts, MIS Quarterly 8 (2): 103--115.
• 6: Steve McConnell, Problem Programmers, IEEE Software, v.15 n.2, p.128, March 1998 [doi>10.1109/52.663801]
• 7: J. Drew Procaccino , June M. Verner , Katherine M. Shelfer , David Gefen, What do software practitioners really think about project success: an exploratory study, Journal of Systems and Software, v.78 n.2, p.194-203, November 2005 [doi>10.1016/j.jss.2004.12.011]
• 8: ProjectLink (2006) Motivation House. Available from: http://www.projectlink.co.uk/whoweworkfor.htm, accessed 12.5.2006.
• 9: Sriraman Ramachandran , Srinivasan V. Rao, An effort towards identifying occupational culture among information systems professionals, Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGMIS CPR conference on computer personnel research: Forty four years of computer personnel research: achievements, challenges & the future, April 13-15, 2006, Claremont, California, USA [doi>10.1145/1125170.1125221]
• 10: Sharp H, Hall T, Tessem B, Maurer F, Karlström D, Dittrich Y, Human & Social Factors in Software Engineering: motivation and de-motivation in agile development, XP2006, Oulu, Finland, 2006, June
• 11: Standish Report (1995) Standish Group Chaos Report. Available from: URL http://www.scs.carleton.ca/~beau/PM/Standish-Report.html
• 12: Syed-Abdullah, S. L., J. Karn, M. Holcombe, T. Cowling and M. Gheorge, The positive affect of the XP methodology. Extreme Programming and Agile Processes in Software Engineering. XP2005. Procs (Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 3556). Springer-Verlag. 2005, 2005: p. 218--21.
• 13: Tanner, F. R., On motivating engineers. Engineering Management Conference, 2003. IEMC p. 214--21

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.9 Management
          Subjects: Productivity

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.9 Management
          Subjects: Programming teams

General Terms:
Human Factors, Management

Keywords:
motivation, repertory grid technique