Modelling Motivation in Software Engineering: A Feasibility Study

在这个可行性研究中，我们将分析软件开发人员的动机。动机被认为是影响软件生产力和软件失败的关键因素。然而，先前的研究表明，基于奖励和认可的传统激励方法不适用于软件工程。有证据表明，软件工程师工作的技术背景对他们的动机很重要（例如，他们工作的技术挑战和复杂性，以及他们使用的开发工具）。因此，现有的通用动机模型需要专门用于软件开发环境。在拟议的项目中，我们将使用我们已经从工业合作者那里收集到的经验数据来产生一个初步的专业模型。最初收集数据集是为了调查人员因素对软件开发的影响，对这些数据的初步分析表明，它也将产生对软件工程师动机的实质性见解。这个项目的主要输出将是一个专门为软件工程量身定制的动机的初始模型。这个模型将从我们的经验数据和心理学和组织行为学的动机理论模型中推导出来。在这项可行性研究之后，我们将提出另一项建议，以管理人员实用工具包的形式扩展、完善和实施我们的模型。

In this feasibility study we will be analysing software developer motivation. Motivation has been identified as a crucial factor in software productivity and software failure. However previous work suggests that conventional approaches to motivation which are based on reward and recognition are not appropriate for software engineering. The evidence suggests that the technical context of software engineers' work is important to their motivation (e.g. the technical challenge and complexity of their work and the development tools they use). Consequently, existing generic models of motivation need to be specialised to the software development context. In the proposed project, we will use empirical data we have already collected from industrial collaborators to produce an initial specialised model. The data sets were originally collected to investigate the impact of people factors on software development, and initial analysis of this data suggests that it will also yield substantial insights into software engineers' motivation.The main output from this project will be an initial model of motivation specifically tailored for software engineering. This model will be derived from our empirical data and theoretical models of motivation in psychology and organisational behaviour. This feasibility study will be followed-up with another proposal where we will extend, refine and operationalise our model in the form of a practical toolkit for managers.