I must be one of those who feel slighted when I recieve undue praise. It's kind of patronizing hyperbole and I see it as being treated like a toddler than a grown, paid professional.

I'm not one of Pavlov's dogs.

Something to watch out for is people becoming jaded if you use bombastic winning language like "crushing it" all the time, and your praise language doesn't measure up to the size of the win. If a tiny fix and a huge win are both "crushing it", a sense of meaninglessness will permeate.

There's a class of people though, myself included, that do not like external validation. I thrive on internal validation on my perceived work product strength. I feel like I'm a better judge of whether my work is good or bad than a non-technical project manager.

It's different when it comes from a technical peer or a technical manager. There it definitely means more.

Closer to my point though, it was the continued repetition of the positive reinforcement. I'm talking a weekly occurrence where the situation did not call for the reinforcement. It felt fake and, to me, had the opposite effect as intended.

everyone responds to intrinsic motivation (which in part is what you're describing). very few people can last very long on extrinsic motivation only (like fake praise). there's not two classes of people who divide neatly into one camp or the other.

no one wants fake praise, but rather real, genuine praise only. some folks will convince themselves the fake praise is genuine, but mostly, everyone can tell in their heart of hearts which is which. you're not really fooling most folks most of the time.

give real praise only when it's deserved. support and compassion, however, should always be readily at hand.

I think this is the main issue with generic "you guys are [something] it!" type of praise. There are no details at all, so it seems fake and superficial.

I do agree with the general sentiment of the parent post though. Having managed IT (operations not development) when good work is done, often the intention is that no one notices. Therefore the broader organisation may not have sufficient awareness that anything of value has been achieved.

In such circumstances I believe it is up to the manager to both manage up in terms of making the team's achievement known and recognised, as well as represent the organisation and acknowledge the team's work.

A few of the posts above are essentially prescribing using STAR to offer feedback, which I think is more thoughtful than just generic words of affirmation. This can be made even more authentic if you take the time to talk to affected stakeholders and gather real testimonials to pass back to the team.

Depends. Your output may feel great to someone else, but you may not feel excited about it personally. (and there may be no conflict, or fakery of praise in it) Perhaps based on how perfectionist you are, or based on what you like about the work. You might be excited/motivated by different aspects of your work than your manager.

To me it would come down to whether I think other person is praising my work just to get more of it done just for the praise (I'd have negative reaction), or whether he just likes it that much personally (neutral to mildly positive reaction).

Perhaps it would be better to express a genuine feeling instead.

Praise implies being in a position to praise at all. Having some authority or mastery with regard to what is praised.

Often enough, I am that authority. I don’t expect praise from my clients. I’m getting payed precisely because they lack the mastery I offer.

Instead I would be happy to hear about their true feelings. Stories of gratitude, or relief, or whatever else happened in their life that I might have played a role in.

Yes, I understand. But a lot of the time people express feelings indirectly, and it's pointless to try to change everyone's communication style. So people sometimes use praise if they're happy about something, or whatever, and I interpret that in a way that suits my well being.

It's just part of the communication style of someone, or even part of a culture of a country. If it bothers me, and it is the relationship I care about or looks to be long term, I may ask the person to communicate differently with me.

But most of the time I get praise from random people on the internet, and I just interpret it that they are grateful for my contributions, regardless of what they say.

Sometimes they want something from me, and are probably not comfortable with just asking for it, so they pad the communication with some praise about the software or me. Some state that they're uncomfortable asking for help more directly, some just add praise at the beginning/end of each reply. (which gets kinda strange after 3-4 interactions :))

It's nice if someone communicates more directly, but I can try to understand the other people, too, regardless of communication style.

"Be conservative in what you send, be liberal in what you accept" ;)

Hehe, I approve of this protocol. :)

then it's not fake praise (in the latter case), but genuine praise, whether you value the output the same or not.

You might want to internalize the parent comment, because it's entirely possible that some of your team members are not taking it that way. I'm on the receiving end of such feedback often. I know that it's coming from a genuine place. But that doesn't stop it from being irritating!

> When people have confidence they're doing a good job, they're more likely to continue to do a good job.

They're just as liable to continue doing a shit job, and with the confidence that your opinion isn't worth a dram.

On behalf of the people that DO like praise for continuing to meet or works hard to meet expectations, thank you!

I'm always surprised with how many people (especially at this site?) doesn't seem to like praise and approval.

Whatever you do, never ever pretend to be somebody you are not or fake praise when it isn’t sincere. Smart developers will instantly loose respect for you and write you off as personified BS.