pages tagged motivationyakkinghttp://yakking.branchable.com/tags/motivation/yakkingikiwiki2017-04-19T11:37:30ZFind your motivationhttp://yakking.branchable.com/posts/motivation/Daniel Silverstone2017-04-19T11:37:30Z2017-04-19T11:24:16Z
<p>A <a href="http://yakking.branchable.com/posts/truism-1-if-you-dont-know-why/">while ago</a> I wrote about ensuring that you know why you're writing
something in order that you keep focussed on that goal while you code. My
focus at that point was on the specific project you were looking to undertake,
but it may behoove us to look at the wider picture from time to time.</p>
<blockquote><h1>What motivates you?</h1></blockquote>
<p>It's important that you can answer this question, ideally without hesitation or
backtracking. For each of us the answer will be different, and noone's answer
is any less "right" than anyone elses. For myself, it took several years to be
in a position to answer the question confidently, quickly, and consistently.
That's not to say that my answer won't change in the future, but at least for
now I know what motivates me and how that manifests in my day-to-day hacking.</p>
<p>I have had a word with <a href="http://yakking.branchable.com/bio/richard/">Richard</a> and he has explained his motivation to me,
and so for your perusal and criticism, here's what motivates us both..</p>
<h2>Daniel</h2>
<p>For me, the primary motivation for writing free software is that I enjoy making
it possible for other people to achieve things. I am, as it were, an "enabler"
or "facilitator". This manifests itself in an interest in processes,
meta-programming, and tooling. I find myself writing libraries, services, and
test tooling; and I enjoy reading papers and architecture designs, thinking of
new ways to solve old problems, and novel problems to solve. (And of course,
I write articles on this here blog <img src="http://yakking.branchable.com/smileys/smile.png" alt=":-)" /> )</p>
<h2>Richard</h2>
<blockquote><p>My motivation in general is to learn something such that it can be applied to
something which in some way may be construed as to the betterment of society.
Or indeed those things which may improve society directly. In the
free-software world, this has manifested in the topic of reliability and also
freeing people from vendor lock-in.</p></blockquote>
<p>(* note, I kinda paraphrased what Richard said)</p>
<h1>Homework</h1>
<p>You didn't think I'd let you get away with no homework this week did you? Hah!
I'd like you to sit down, consider your motivation in the free software world
and a few ways in which that manifests into projects you work on or with. If
you're feeling super-enthusiastic about it, why not post a comment on this post
and share your motivation with the rest of us?</p>
Facilitating is no less valuable than contributinghttp://yakking.branchable.com/posts/facilitating/Richard Maw2017-03-01T12:00:15Z2017-03-01T12:00:07Z
<p>FOSS projects are mostly developed on a volunteer basis.</p>
<p>This makes the currencies by which they are developed: free time and motivation.</p>
<p>Often times you have the free time, but not the motivation.
Often this is not from feeling that the work isn't worth doing,
but that you feel inadequate to do it.</p>
<p>Don't be disheartened.
There's plenty you can do that helps.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Just be there, whether in-person or online.</p>
<p>You can do whatever else you want while being there,
but it's encouraging to not be along in your endeavours.</p>
<p>You may even find some motivation of your own.</p></li>
<li><p>When others are talking about what they want to achieve,
respond enthusiastically.</p>
<p>It makes them more likely to follow-through and do so,
and in the very least makes them feel good.</p>
<p>This does risk making them feel worse if they never get around to it,
but sometimes that's sufficient to shame them into action later,
and other times it's sufficient to say "these things happen".</p></li>
<li><p>Engage in discussion about what others want to achieve.</p>
<p>It's extremely valuable for refining ideas,
so they can implement what they want to do better,
it keeps it fresh in their mind so motivation lasts longer,
and it leaves a clearer idea of what to do
so it may be completed before motivation runs out.</p></li>
<li><p>Mention what other people are doing to people who might be interested.</p>
<p>You could end up with anecdotes of other people thinking it's a cool idea,
which when relayed to people doing the work provides their own motivation.</p></li>
<li><p>Remind people of the successes they've had.</p>
<p>It makes people feel good about what they've already done,
and can put any issues they are currently struggling with into perspective.</p>
<p>Lars pointed out that
Yakking has published more than 180 articles at a rate of one per week!
We've managed to get this far, we can continue for a good while yet.</p></li>
</ol>