So , is your organization adopting Agile practices and turquoise talk of “collaboration” between teams? Are you, as a big boss, starting to feel your own powerlessness and loss of control over the effectiveness of YOUR teams? Let me give you a few guidelines here that will reverse this process so that all the threads of success lead back to you. You, as a strong leader, deserve it!
Some leaders try to build synergy between teams and motivate employees, but the real boss is used to actively managing the workforce. Here is a strategy for maintaining control based on centuries of experience. Some people say control over the workforce is an illusion ... but they just never worked under a real boss. The secret to control is using the seven deadly sins to motivate YOUR workforce. After all, this is exactly what has always motivated people, isn't it? Then let's get started.
Pride
For some time now, be generous in praising the developers. Let them get used to your compliments. Make sure they are truly proud of their accomplishments and knowledge of everything related to their work. Then stop. It is very important! They will begin to doubt themselves and work twice as hard to hear a kind word from you. Very soon you will have them from your hand.
Greed
Money is the best driver. Financial motivation is a classic! (I know there are studies that claim to prove that this only works well for predictable, uncomplicated activities, but I prefer to ignore such fabrications as propaganda from the days of the hippie.) Give bonuses to teams that have managed to implement all the user stories included in the sprint. And to make it even more interesting, add an extra bonus in case they do more than they promised. Just keep in mind: all of this works great for a low base salary. If your developers can live with dignity on their salary, efficiency will decrease.
By the way, why not consider options with outsourcing, because, most likely, you yourself are on it? Pick a country with cheap labor, set a low base salary, and, of course, ignore the concept of “pull rather than push” features into the sprint. Now YOU control everything. And remember: YOU have to decide what to work on. Low-cost developers who work hard (but never sprint the whole thing, as that would make them expensive) will look great in your spreadsheets and reports. And what, you can become a hero in a company that offers an effective outsourcing scheme. In this way, you can even move up the career ladder, becoming the director of outsourcing. Oh, it will be a great success - I promise!
Envy
You must have a special prize for the team that completed the most work in the sprint. It must be visible and persistent throughout the sprint - other teams must observe it. This will create healthy competition between teams, although it can also have a side effect in the form of a slight deterioration in the quality of cooperation, and in some cases sabotaging the work of the other team, but this should be treated as a planned risk. “ You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. ”(Maximilian Robespierre).
Gluttony
Developers eat cola and pizza, right? Make sure your teams have consistent access to these pillars of healthy eating. (From time to time, you can give out vitamins if their teeth start to fall out, or mouthwash with fluoride if their teeth start to decay, you get the idea.) If you provide them with food and drinks, they won't need to go to dinner. If you install narrow doorways in the office, an additional bonus after a while will be that they will not be able to leave at all. This means you will have REALLY dedicated employees.
Anger
Oh, how I love anger! There is no other emotion that contains so much potential power. An angry developer can write code for days. Encourage conflicts between teams and between individual team members. Make sure they write really sarcastic comments in code reviews and publicly reward the funniest writers. Also focus the entire team's attention on the developer who generated the worst error. Public shame is a great trigger for anger and revenge.
Laziness
This driver is slightly more complicated to use, but not useless. As you know, “a good developer is a lazy developer”. If something can be done easier and faster, then it should be done. Don't waste time on things the customer doesn't pay for, such as personal hygiene or software quality control. If the developers start to smell, if they look untidy, then an additional plus will be that they will remain free of their personal life. And since they don't have to spend time with family or a loved one, then they can write code even more efficiently. Trainings to reduce unproductive time use should be provided monthly.
Lust
This is also a bit tricky given the heterogeneity of workplaces that development teams typically inhabit. However, there are always people with whom they have to deal almost daily. In short, only hire smiling and good-looking employees for support roles like HR, tech support, front desk, or business. Nice RPs or stakeholders are also a great idea. Just remember that there must be representatives of all genders and preferences in the office in order to cover the entire basis.
For all this to work as a driver for developers, the above employees should be invited to participate in demos. They should applaud there and speak positively about the version that they like best. Positive feedback should be directed to specific developers, so that they have the illusion of having a chance with people who are not in their league.
When you control all the bonuses and rewards, you control your developers like puppets or resources, which they really are. Forget them as humans. They are here to manipulate them in order to get a bonus. After all, the workplace is not a place to feel happy; it is a place where things should be done.
Good luck!