Scott Rigby, Ph.D.
Immersyve Inc.

45 / Motivation and Self-Determination Theory

Description
With so many touchpoints between Self-Determination Theory and software product development, it’s difficult to know where to begin. Perhaps with this: self-determination theory is fundamentally focused on answering two questions. First, what is it that brings us fulfillment in life?”; and second, what things will accrue to high-quality motivation – that is, doing things that I value, that have meaning, that I love?”
In this episode of the Product Momentum Podcast, Sean and Paul welcome Scott Rigby, Ph.D. to discuss the interplay between Self-Determination Theory and software product development. The fit is ideal. As product leaders strive to improve users’ lives, what better way to fulfill this mission than to embrace the needs that drive them. Scott guides us well beyond the theoretical, venturing deep into its application founded on two critical shifts since his work in this area began.
The first deals with motivation. Specifically, that motivation is ‘something I do to you’ and that ‘whatever I do to motivate you’ is good because the more I do, the more I’ll get. As it turns out, Scott says, that way of thinking is not only not correct, we just can’t get by with it anymore.
The second shift, closely related to the first, deals with empowerment. We once lived in a world in which companies and institutions held all the power and made all the rules.  Consumers existed only in orbit around them, controlled and manipulated by the way they structured our existence. Not so these days, Scott offers.
“We call it the Copernican turn; we realized that who’s in orbit around what has completely changed.” Over the past 15 years or so, the gravitational pull that companies and institutions once relied on has waned. Now they say, ‘I’ve got to do the right things to have [consumers] select me…I have to understand the thing that drives them to be motivated to make that choice.’
Understanding these shifts introduces only a kernel of knowledge of Scott’s work over the past 30 years. But it’s fundamental to the real-world application of the vast theoretical issues that play out every day across on product development teams in our space.
Listen in to catch even more of Scott’s insights. Discover what he refers to as the continuum of motivation; see the distinction between motivation and manipulation; and grasp ways to put the theory into practice – not only by creating “a consensual language that everyone can understand, but also by providing a roadmap that invites customers and team members to follow the continuum of basic psychological needs.”  
[04:35] The Copernican turn. We realized that who’s in orbit around what is completely changed.
[08:02] We humans have 3 basic psychological needs. Autonomy, Mastery, and Relatedness.
[08:12] Autonomy. I want to be the author of my life. It’s more than freedom. It’s about volition. It’s about engagement.
[09:23] Mastery. I need to feel a sense of growth in what I am doing.
[09:42] Relatedness. I don’t want to do this in isolation. I want what I do to matter to others.
[10:02] Self-determination theory – and people. We can quantifiably measure how autonomy, mastery, and relatedness are being experienced by employees in a company as they interact with  managers and coworkers.
[10:12] Self-determination theory – and product. We can see how those things are being satisfied by how products are designed…the informational feedback from user interfaces…user progression paths…and by how they are implemented in our program.
[10:29] Self-determination theory – and marketing.