I think an important factor is missing: personal gain. At 37signals their income is tied directly to the quality of their work. That's just not the case in larger companies and it seems a pretty big hurdle to overcome.<p>There's a lot you can do to motivate people besides money, but in my experience it's fairly superficial motivation. It's enough to make work pleasant and keep people contented, but not enough to really kick ass. Google is a perfect example.<p>The only times I've seen teams of people do their best possible work is when they believed there'd be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (measly bonuses don't count). Money is as close to a silver bullet for motivation as I've ever seen. When the promise of riches is in sight all the smaller things just don't matter. When it's not there all the smaller things are the only things that matter.
Pretty classic quote: "That’s not to say that we’re all created equal and that star power can be unlocked with hippie music and sandals alone. Just that there’s a ton of untapped potential trapped under crappy policies, poor direction, and stifling bureaucracies. People [are] waiting to do great work if given the chance."
> ...quit thinking about how you can land a room full of rock stars and ninjas (note to recruiters: even if these terms weren’t just misguided, they’d be tired by now anyway)<p>Thank you..
Do they? Or are you defining average environments as those environments in which average work is done?<p>The PG-recommended startup plan consists of several people sharing low cost living-and-working space and living on instant noodles, yet doing above average work.<p>The direction of cause and effect doesn't seem as clear cut as DHH suggests.