Today I want to look at one option that might increase your motivation at work considerably. Have you heard of Google's 20% projects projects? (look for "As a motivation technique, Google uses a policy often called Innovation Time Off?"). Isn't it interesting that Google's Management confirms that 50% of their innovation comes from these 20% projects. Some examples are Google Mail or Google News. Think about this, people invented these very successful services as side projects! That shows very clearly that when you care about something deeply you are doing more, much more, than expected. This should normally ensure that companies listen because you do more with the same number of people. Is your company listening?
This general approach is also true for Agile Software Development, as soon as you give more responsibility and accountability to teams, the performance goes up. That shows that people deliver amazing things if they have the environment that allows them to perform. Give your teams a chance to get together and work on improvements they are really interested in.
In many cases you don't need to get different people to get different results, you need to give your existing people the necessary room to perform. This approach is obviously not for everyone but if your company supports it I'm sure you get amazing results.
