inessential by Brent Simmons

How to encourage developers

How do you encourage developers to do good work? Say nice things about their software.

Really. It works.

I even get a little thrill when I read compliments of other people’s software. If someone writes about how much they love Radio UserLand, or Transmit, or BBEdit, or whatever—then it’s a reminder that there are cool folks out there who care about software and are nice enough to let the developers know when they do good work.