Building a roadmap engineers are excited about

I work in close collaboration with my dev team (we're all very good friends in real life, so I get their honest opinions).

From what I understand, lack of enthusiasm usually stems from one or more of the following issues:

• Lack of understanding of the purpose or requirements of the task or project
• Feeling that the work is either too easy or too difficult
• The development work itself is just not stimulating
• No clear link to the end result
• Uncertainty about their approach
• Feeling unappreciated for their efforts and skills (“I’m just a code pusher...”)
• Not being part of the implementation decisions regarding the development - this is a big one. 
  • One of the key tenets of successful software development is allowing developers to be involved in the decision-making process. When they feel like they’re being heard and their opinions matter, they’ll be more likely to put forth their best effort and take pride in the outcome. Plus, having a collaborative environment encourages creativity and innovation- essential for creating great software. Involving devs in the decision-making process increases their ownership and commitment, which leads to a higher level of motivation and productivity.

Just following on from @jcraig ‘s post. I think the “I’m just a code pusher” one is a common problem I see in teams and it’s usually when the company is outputs focussed. I make a really conscious effort to try and bring my engineering team on the journey with me so they are invested in the what and why as much as I am, are excited by it and get the added bonus of then figuring out the how… 

We have to remove the disconnect so that their is an investment and a change of the negative “I’m just a code pusher...” to a mindset of “I get to figure out a cool solution here and release it” 

Add in interesting technical challenges and an empowered and autonomous team and I think it leads to a much healthier and excited team. 

Just a brain dump of my thoughts on this 🙂