Stephan Schmidt, CTO Coach - November 4, 2024
Different Developer Motivation Personas
Every developer is motivated differently
TL;DR: The DMO model (DMO = J + D - F) helps engineering leaders understand that developer motivation stems from balancing individual Joy and Discipline while actively reducing Frustration—focus on reducing frustration for joy-driven developers and increasing joy for discipline-driven ones to prevent burnout and attrition.
Part of my CTO Coaching
I have developed the DMO Developer Motivation model. The core idea is that what we describe as motivation (DMO), developers doing things on their own, is the result of Joy (J) and Discipline (D) within developers. Frustration (F) subtracts from Joy and kills Discipline.
DMO = J + D - F
As CTO and engineering managers, we meet many different people, everyone is different. So people bring different amounts of joy, discipline, and frustration to the table.
To “motivate” developers as a manager, you need to look into their specifics of joy, discipline, and frustration.
DMO = J + D + F
Frustration, Joy, and Discipline are individual to each developer. Someone might have a high joy level in general, while others do feel less joy. Some developers have a low frustration level, while others are easily frustrated.
High Frustration
| J | D | F |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 100 |
Developers without joy and with no discipline, but a high level of frustration. Let them go, there is no way to motivate them.
High Joy
| J | D | F |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Developers with a high level of joy might be overboarding and difficult to direct, but they are most of the time motivated. For patches where through circumstances their joy drops of, they are not motivated at all. The should learn some self-discipline to get through those patches. They might also be led in circles due to their joy. Overall, enjoy their joy.
High Discipline
| J | D | F |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 100 | 0 |
Developers with a high level of discipline are always motivated to do a task. Without joy they might burn out though, or get bored and leave. Show that where there can be joy in their work.
Joy Driven
| J | D | F |
|---|---|---|
| 80 | 20 | 50 |
Joy-driven developers are mostly driven by the joy of coding but have base discipline to get them through hard times. If frustration is high, joy might easily be killed and discipline is not on a level to cushion frustration. With a low level of discipline the discipline might take effort to keep it up and is fragile and threatened by frustration. Try to reduce frustration as much as possible, it’s a risk.
Discipline Driven
| J | D | F |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 80 | 50 |
Very solid developer. Discipline-driven developers will usually power through, as discipline is high and frustration can’t impact discipline as much as joy. For long term psychological health try to increase joy.
More Stuff from Stephan
About me: Hey, I'm Stephan, a CTO Coach with 40+ years of software development and 25+ years of engineering management experience. I've coached and mentored 80+ CTOs and founders. I've founded 3 startups. 1 nice exit. I help CTOs and engineering leaders grow, scale their teams, gain clarity, lead with confidence and navigate the challenges of fast-growing companies.
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