Scott Duffy sometimes writes a bit about VSTS.  Not often, but enough for me to keep checking back to his blog often.  His last post had something that just struck me.  He puts it like this:

* A word about recognition: to me, recognition is simply that someone accurately understands how difficult a problem was to solve.

This rings true to me.  Which is sometimes where management makes mistakes.  Yes, it's good to congratulate someone on a job well done.  But it means so much less coming from someone who doesn't understand the job.  A “Wow!” under the breath of a fellow programmer, is far more recognition that a plaque handed out at the company Christmas party by someone unaware of what you really, really do. 

By the way, a public thanks to my business partner, Rich Hundhausen.  He's one of the finest, most professional developers I know, and when he says “Looks good.” in his understated way, it's a compliment that's difficult to match.