Continued involvement in software development: motivational factors

Software practitioner motivation has been recognised as a key factor in system quality, yet much of what we know about practitioner motivation is based on research conducted decades ago. In this paper, we present the analysis of data collected from 23 current practitioners at a workshop on motivation. This is the third in a series of workshops, each aimed at investigating the motivational factors in current software practice. We found that people factors are those most often cited, which reinforces the findings from the two previous workshops. This has implications for motivational programmes in software organisations, and indicates the need for further empirical research in the area.

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