Motivating Engineers

I am a huge fan of Dan Ariely’s writing because I believe it makes behavioral economics relevant to every day business decision making.  I have just finished the first two chapters of his new book “The Upside of Irrationality” and can already strongly recommend it.  Chapter 2 in particular is be a must read for anyone who manages people but in particular for folks who manage engineers.  In it, Dan describes a series of experiments involving MIT students building with Legos that are cunningly conceived and amazingly clear in their implications.  It is worth reading because the evidence is not just compelling statistically but also convincingly told by Dan.  If you want the three word summary: deploy, deploy, deploy.