» Top 10 Ways to Motivate Geeks >> The Retrospector
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URL Tag Cloud
- geek
- , motivation
- , management
- , productivity
- , geeks
- , delicious
- , funny
- , leadership
- , work
- , psychology
- , people
- , programming
- , technology
- , GTD
- , Fun
- , Life2.0
- , motivate
Bookmark History
Saved by 21 people (-7 private), first by anonymouse user on 2006-07-19
- Eighteyes on 2009-01-06 - Tags work , productivity , psychology , people , technology , programming
- Isaacmao on 2008-02-28 - Tags Geek , Life2.0 , motivation
- Ccmaria on 2007-11-26 - Tags geek
- Joel on 2007-09-19 - Tags geek , leadership , management , motivation
- Kcsnow on 2007-08-21 - Tags geek , delicious
Public Sticky notes
2. Geeks like to be self-sustaining. Let them figure things out on their own.
I haven’t met a true geek yet that wants you to hold their hand through every step of an implementation. In fact I’ve seen quite the opposite. They want to do things their way. If you suggest something, odds are the solution is wrong in their mind because it’s not what they would have come up with first. There’s many ways to complete a task in the technical arena, why cram your solution down their throats? Don’t hinder their creativity, just let them figure it out. The exception to this is probably in design. You obviously have to define your interfaces between components and have your requirements for the implementation. Let the details get figured out by whoever’s doing the dirty work. You can optimize things later if they aren’t up to par.
Highlighted by renaistre
3. Geeks are creative even if they don’t know it. Give them a chance.
One thing I’ve seen is that most geeks don’t see themselves as very creative. Give them the task of creating a GUI tool of some sort and they’ll butcher it up and say “get someone with art talent on the job; I just know how to make it work”. Now this may be true as far as what’s appealing to the eye, but geeks have creativity inside them somewhere.
When you give them a requirement for a component that’s just out of reach with the normal cookie-cutter solutions, who’s jumping at the chance to dig on the web for solutions that could work? Who’s rattling off a dozen ideas for things to try that might work with the newfound constraints? That’s right, it’s management. 
(Just kidding, though everyone has their moment…who knows? Some managers are geeks too.)
Even if none of the solutions the geeks come up with will work, it’s a vast pool of creative ideas to feed from. Though they see themselves as equation-solvers with little creativity, I see it as opportunity. Let them apply their creativity. They love to be in the brainstorm process instead of pushed to the wayside as a later-used resource.
Highlighted by renaistre
Highlighted by joel
Highlighted by joel
Public Comment