> A sense of excitement is not necessary.
i disagree. a sense of excitement in developers has three uses, all
of which i consider essential to doing things properly:
first, it's a barometer which shows how the developer's motivation is
doing. there are other ways to estimate motivation, but i submit
that none of them are as easy to spot, and to track, as excitement.
perhaps i should tone the term back a little and say 'enthusiasm'
instead, but the phrase 'not enthusiastic' has a negative connotation
that can lead to confusion. a person can still be motivated without
being excited.. in the sense that they really *want* to dive into the
project and do more work on it.. and that's precisely when you need to
start doing damage control, IMO.
second, excitement is one of the two fuel sources that keep a
developer working to do a good job, rather than just slapping
something together and being done with it. the other is
professionalism. the two work very well together.. but they don't
work at all well independently. excitement without professionalism
has no staying power. you end up with nothing tangible, because the
developer can never stop chasing butterflies. professionalism
without excitement is an exhausting slog. you get a decent product,
but only at the expense of burning out the developer. you have to
get the mixture right if you want to be able to get the current
product, *and* the next one, across the finish line.
third, excitement is the crash pad that keeps people from giving up
when things go wrong. psychologists have measured the motivational
effect of what's called 'learned success'. people who are used to
having things work will spend a lot more time exploring options before
they decide something is possible. the opposite is also true.
people who are used to things not working will give up even if the
solution isn't terribly difficult.
i see excitement as steam pressure in the engine which drives a
project. a project leader's job is to keep it at the right operating
level. if you let it get too far out of range either way, you risk
ruining the engine. and as easy as it is to get the average
developer excited about something ("hey, wanna try something vaguely
cool?" "YEAH!!!"), a manager who lets the excitement level fall all
the way into the red has done a lousy job.
mike stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 'net geek..
been there, done that, have network, will travel.
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