Communication doesn't mean only the accurate exchange of information. It also means giving feedback and praise to developers-especially if you want to motivate them. "Verbal praise works for me," wrote one anonymous developer via Twitter. "Even if I'm not the best, I still need some positive talk to move me."

But feedback isn't always about telling developers how good they are. It's about setting expectations and being both consistent and fair. Here are four verbatim responses from Twitter (for which I must acknowledge the help of Michael Lopp, who was kind enough to ask his followers for 140-character-or-less input):

• I'd take harsh but consistent and fair over nice but wishy-washy any day.

• Passive-aggressive put-downs even though clear goals and expectations were not set. Snide personal remarks about your qualifications.

• Give me criticism and my perfectionism will make me work harder. Within reason; I'm not a workaholic.

• Acknowledging and leveraging my skills and talents to make good use of me.

QA specialist Joe Strazzere emphasizes the CIO's need to communicate. "While there may be an 'I' in the middle of your title," he writes, "At the root, all problems are people problems. Consider the people first, and the technology second."

The Difficult One: Pay Developers a Lot of Money.

When I asked developers what motivated them, I expected most of the answers you read above. Most people want to be appreciated for the skills they bring to the table, to be trusted to deliver their best work, and to be given honest and useful feedback. But I didn't expect that several responses would be utterly mercenary.

For example, one developer's response to the base question "If you could get your CIO (or IT manager) to understand one thing about managing and motivating developers, what would it be?" was a single word: Money. And to the automatic follow-up question, "Why did you pick that?"-"Chicks dig it."

I did laugh aloud at that response, but other developers (who remain anonymous for obvious reasons) repeated the sentiment. "As far as motivation goes, if I am not getting paid, I am not getting out of bed," wrote one. "That simply saying I'm the exceptional one who can do this amazing thing doesn't motivate if I'm not being paid exceptionally," said another. "Money is the main motivator for any job; get it right and you will have a happy employee," added a database administrator, who recommended that CIOs keep an eye on what the job market is doing for his role, and make reasonable adjustments to ensure the staff is within the comfort zone for their pay scale.

You and I could take this at face value. Developers are trained professionals who expect to be well compensated for their experience and skill. Certainly, one way to give feedback to developers, especially the ones you value most, is by showing your appreciation on the paycheck.