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Comment by blowski | Hacker News Reader

Those techniques assume that everybody’s motivations are the same, and that’s not true. Some people don’t want ownership. Others are already satisfied by their pay.

My answer to that question would be three parts:

1. Make sure that you agree on what success looks like, at the micro and macro levels.

2. Discuss what that person needs to achieve success for both of you - mentoring, training, tooling, access, time, money, whatever.

3. Frequently make sure they actually have what they need.

When people are regularly missing out on what you call success, you’ll probably get rid of them. When they’re missing out on what they call success, they’ll get rid of you by leaving. Don’t assume you’ve understood what they think success looks like until you’ve really discussed it with them individually.

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Wait, if you don’t want either product ownership (ergo responsibility outside of coding) or higher pay, what exactly do you want?

New challenges? Opportunities to make a positive impact? Mentorship and management experience? Increased autonomy or flexibility?

or more free time, more PTO days, etc.

Good question - ask them.

I’ve had exceptional coders who were able and willing to make valuable contributions to the codebase, but needed to spoonfed the requirements. Maybe success in your team is a sense of ownership, in which case that person may not be right for your team - and that’s ok. Just don’t try shoehorning them into something they don’t want to do and expect successful results.

I'm taking my pay raises in yearly extra vacation days for example.

Frequently? Being left alone in peace.

A ton of people want a calm, quiet, peaceful workplace with not a lot of pressure.

Some people want to work just enough to make money to support their other hobbies. Earning 3 times the money for twice the amount of responsibility is not worth it for them.

Free time

same pay for less responsibility? a sense of doing important work?

If you want people who want ownership, don't hire people who don't want ownership. Not very complicated. Maybe hard to execute on though.

It's what interviews should be for, instead of "you've got 10 minutes to implement the best possible solution for this bizarre programming problem without access to any other resources".

And once you've hired them, it's what 1 to 1s for, instead of "give me a status update on all your projects".

>Others are already satisfied by their pay. Inflation

I believe you're suggesting their level of satisfaction might change over time? I agree, which is why this is an ongoing conversation, not just something you have briefly in an annual performance review.

I think people would at least appreciate a pay rise that matches inflation without needing to ask or beg for it.

It's true that nobody ever says "no thanks" to free money, but there's an opportunity cost to where you spend your budget. People may prefer you to spend it hiring someone new to help them, for example.

If people need to "beg" for a payrise, then you're doing it all wrong anyway.

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