It was my
former boss, Steve Marshall, who introduced me to the principles of Performance
Management and he gave me a job to do which enforced learning.
“Get out
there, learn about Performance Management and implement a system here at
Payserv that will get our people to work harder and smarter. Incentivise people
and they will be motivated to improved productivity.”
So I did. I
learned from asking people questions and I learned from the Internet. I learned
about ‘The Balanced Scorecard’ and I learned as much as I could find about Key
Result Areas (KRAs), Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and ‘Agreed Targets’ – measurable
performance targets agreed between managers and employees.
And in time
we introduced it to Payserv. And my word, did it work. In our payroll bureau
our monthly error rate on payrolls was reduced from a monthly average of 5 to
0.5. It worked so well that our administrative staff – the tea maker, the
cleaner, the drivers and the gardeners – asked why they could not be brought
onto the scheme. So we did. The tea maker who had previously complained that
management did not advise him when tea and biscuits were needed in the boardroom
stopped complaining. Instead he asked daily if and when tea and biscuits would
be required and he monitored the use of the boardroom so that he would be aware
of when we had guests, then he automatically brought in the tea, coffee and
biscuits.
My most
valuable piece of learning was that to be meaningful and valuable to the organisation,
targets to be measured should be OUTCOMES, not OUTPUTS and I learned that an outcome
was the consequence of doing a good job, while an output was nothing more than
doing a job. For example, the outcome of running a payroll was a satisfied
customer, while an output was simply running an error free payroll.
So we
started measuring outcomes and not outputs. Wonderful. Customers were happy,
management was happy, the business grew.
Most staff
knew that they could earn a monthly bonus by doing more. And they did.
But we
found the problem of the Software Developers and our inability to set
meaningful ‘Agreed Targets’ that measured outcomes, not outputs.
And then I
watched and listened to Daniel Pink on TED
Has he
finally solved my problem of Performance Management for Software Developers?
Perhaps he has, but again perhaps not. Pink argues vociferously that providing
incentives for people to work only works for some people and not others,
depending on what they do and how they do it.
What then does
Pink tell us?
Incentives
work for one-dimensional jobs but they do not work for multi-dimensional jobs.
In fact, in multi-dimensional jobs, financial incentives can be damaging. And
he demonstrated the realty of this through the ‘candle problem’. You want to
know about the ‘candle problem? Here’s
the link to Joachim Ramm’s Master’s Thesis: http://bora.uib.no/bitstream/handle/1956/6340/100116498.pdf?sequence=1
People in
Multi-Dimensional work are motivated, not by money or other financial rewards,
they are motivated by Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose
- Autonomy: The freedom to choose when and how to do the work. Independence, self-rule. The urge to direct our own lives.
- Mastery: To be the best at whatever it is you do.
- Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves
Now the
question is: Is software development a single dimensional or a
multi-dimensional discipline? Pink argues that in some cases software
development or simply put, ‘programming’ is single dimensional but it other
cases it is not.
What is it
in or case? Our developers are being asked to be creative. They are being asked
to be innovative. They are being asked to solve customer needs that are
frequently unique and require creative, innovative thought. They are being
asked to think ‘outside the box’, using their diffuse thinking mode. There is
no doubt that they are in a multi-dimensional job.
But they
are also in desperate need of money in this desperate economy with its
desperate limitations to be able to send their children to school. Schools are
expensive in Zimbabwe. Proper schools that is. And every parent wants his or
her children to have the advantages in life that a good school can create for
them.
So here’s
my solution to the Product Developers motivation: Pay the developers what they
would receive if and when they achieved their performance objectives bonus
level. Then give them the freedom to work where and when they want but they can
only work on business needs of the business. (There could be special cases for
doing something different sometimes). Give them opportunity and encouragement
to learn new languages, new techniques, new procedures and once a quarter, take
them out into the businesses of those who use the systems they develop. Let
them see how their systems are being used, let them talk to the users and find
out how they think and feel about the systems they have helped to develop. Let
them see for themselves the results of their work.