Daniel Pinho

§ 11 Intrinsic Motivation

Context

Software development is a highly mental process, where developers must focus and exert a mental effort on the tasks they work on in each step of the software development life-cycle.

Problem

Having the drive to exert this effort can be challenging if developers feel unmotivated, which can result from myriad factors.

How can developers boost their motivation?

Forces

  • Developers seek variety and challenging tasks to grow as professionals, but development tasks in a project can require a steady progress and be predictable as the project goes on, limiting exploration time.
  • Projects require input from developers, stakeholders, and other people due to the variety of viewpoints to bring value, but differing priorities, values, and backgrounds can slow decisions or even create friction.
  • Having autonomy in their work can foster developers’ ownership, but shared standards and constraints coming from above are important to ensure the end result is coherent and rework is reduced.

Solution

Developers ought to reflect and assess their working context, including their environment, career, tasks, the results of their tasks, and the people around them, to identify what motivates them and what can be improved.

Intrinsic motivation comes from inside a person’s mind, in contrast to extrinsic motivation, which stems from external rewards. As such, the former is influenced by varying factors related to one’s environment, career, tasks, and social interactions[1].

For instance, common motivators related to one’s tasks and career include identifying with the task at hand and finding it interesting. Seeing career growth options and being challenged are also factors that, if present, boost one’s motivation. On the other hand, feeling stressed, lacking career growth opportunities, or feeling inequity are all factors that cause a developer’s motivation to decrease[2].

Motivators related to one’s physical and social environments include having one’s needs met, being under good management, and having positive relationships alongside a sense of belonging. Factors that hinder one’s motivation include poor communication, bad relationships, and a lack of resources[2].

Becoming aware of these motivating factors, in addition to recognising when they are present, can bring a renewed sense of motivation to a developer. However, identifying which demotivators are present can also bring value if one can act on removing them or reducing their impact. For example, a developer can try to improve their relationships with their teammates or enlist the support of other co-workers to bring change to their organisation.

Examples

  • Some developers are motivated by learning new things by exploring new technologies or by improving their existing skills through practice and experimentation[3][4]. This also contributes to the challenge-skill balance experienced by the developer, which can bring a state of flow[5].
  • Working on projects that contribute to making a difference, whether this stems from the project’s mission (such as increasing sustainability, or because the project has a goal for improving a community’s life) or from the developer’s own contribution (as is the case for improving accessibility or usability) can motivate a developer due to the positive impact of their work[2][6].
  • Developers can be motivated through collaboration and teamwork, such as working with others towards a shared goal, mentoring their teammates, or improving the team’s dynamic[3][2].
  • A developer’s career progression, while more visibly related to extrinsic factors, can also be powered by intrinsic motivators. Advancements in a developer’s career result in them being entrusted with bigger responsibilities, personal growth stemming from new challenges, and more achievements[7][2].

Consequences

  • Motivated developers are more productive, and are more aware of the value they bring to their work.
  • Not all motivators fall into a developer’s sphere of influence and are not directly actionable, which can be a cause of frustration on its own.
  • A developer’s motivators may clash with the project’s scope or constraints (for example, a developer who is motivated by working with new technologies working on a project that uses an older, familiar tech stack), leading to hindered performance.

This pattern is one that contributes directly to §4 Well-Valued Contribution, alongside §12 Goal-Oriented Achievements.

The patterns §8 Team Players and §9 Stakeholder Relationships can guide developers into improving their social environment, positively impacting their motivation. The patterns §5 Adequate Skills and §7 Meaningful Activities dive deeper into task and skill management.

References

  1. E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan, “Self-Determination Theory,” in Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology, vol. 1, P. A. M. V. Lange, A. W. Kruglanski, and E. T. Higgins, Eds., 2445 Teller Road,xa0Thousand Oaksxa0Californiaxa091320: SAGE Publications Inc., 2012. doi: 10.4135/9781483346243.n302.
  2. S. Beecham, N. Baddoo, T. Hall, H. Robinson, and H. Sharp, “Motivation in Software Engineering: A systematic literature review,” Information and Software Technology, vol. 50, no. 9–10, pp. 860–878, Aug. 2008, doi: 10.1016/j.infsof.2007.09.004.
  3. I. Amit and D. G. Feitelson, “A Large Scale Survey of Motivation in Software Development and Analysis of its Validity.” Accessed: Oct. 14, 2025. [Online]. Available: http://arxiv.org/abs/2404.08303
  4. C.-G. Wu, J. H. Gerlach, and C. E. Young, “An empirical analysis of open source software developers’ motivations and continuance intentions,” Information & Management, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 253–262, Apr. 2007, doi: 10.1016/j.im.2006.12.006.
  5. K. Kuusinen, H. Petrie, F. Fagerholm, and T. Mikkonen, “Flow, Intrinsic Motivation, and Developer Experience in Software Engineering,” Agile Processes, in Software Engineering, and Extreme Programming, pp. 104–117, 2016, doi: 10/ghhdzz.
  6. J. Bitzer, W. Schrettl, and P. J. H. Schröder, “Intrinsic motivation in open source software development,” Journal of Comparative Economics, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 160–169, Mar. 2007, doi: 10.1016/j.jce.2006.10.001.
  7. N. Baddoo, T. Hall, and D. Jagielska, “Software developer motivation in a high maturity company: A case study,” Softw Process Imprv Pract, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 219–228, May 2006, doi: 10.1002/spip.265.

Last updated: December 18, 2025