>
> > 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:
Enthusiasm, yes. Excitement? The more excited you are, the less
likely you are to see that the tunnel is only painted upon the surface of
the rock...
> 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.
??? I rarely stay excited. I do my most important work by taking a
snooze in the car at lunch time, hardly a manifestation of excitement.
That is where I come up with innovative ways around the roadblocks.
> second, excitement is one of the two fuel sources that keep a
> developer working to do a good job, rather than just slapping
drain sources on physiological energy...
> 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,
??? Not the way I see it. but... we are different people.
> 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.
My sense of satisfaction comes from seeing a nice neat solution.
> 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.
??? Not from what I have seen. Those who are use to having to do
that will do that. Those who are enthusiastic "Let's get at it" types
leave their mark on the tunnel painting, sometimes with a pile of rock and
paint chips beside them.
> people who are used to things not working will give up even if the
> solution isn't terribly difficult.
This IS VERY true!!!
But... I am often hired by excited people who have become frustrated
and are just not calm enough to see beyond their own steam clouds...
> 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.
We more or less agree, but I rather think we need a mix of enthusiasm
on a project; just as we need a mix of personality types and inclinations.
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