Henrik Kniberg seems to had a great session with Mary Poppendieck about Social Technical Systems.
You must see this amazing presentation about What Motivates You! Great style, great content.
I wasn’t so wrong when I wrote about bonus systems.
Feb 13
Lets say you earn 1200 gummy bears a year and get a bonus of 100 gummy bears. What would you say is your salary?
a) 1200
b) 1300
Probably you would answer a). If the bonus is paid for the extra effort and your personal engagement, i.e. something that you can control, what will be your answer? I guess still a), right? Why? Because even if you got in previous years a bonus, your manager can reject the bonus. Either in case of your under-performance – a thing that you can control or in case of a struggling company – a thing that you can’t control.
Now lets say you get several years a bonus of 100 gummy bears? What is your expectation of the next performance review? Let me guess, your answer will be 100 or more.
To sum it up: You expect the bonus each year but you do not account it into your salary. Mmh, not the best investment a company could make with that extra money.
What solution do I have? Flip the system!
Give the new developer a salary with a bonus. When you know the developer and her potential, turn it into a fix salary without a bonus.
