More. The most productive developers are around 1000% as productive as average, whether measured in terms of feature coded, lines of code produced, or bugs found. Seriously – hit the books, read the research.

IT development is an area in which the best really are much, much, much better than average.

I totally agree with the sentiments expressed in the quote you mention.

When I wrote my blog post, I was actually looking at p. 280, where it says “Try…Hire the best” right there in the middle of the page. You’re right, even this quote makes more sense in the context of its chapter, but there it is.

I’m looking at it now and I notice on the next page “Avoid…Hiring when you cannot find the best”.

Those were the things I was responding to in the original blog post.

alan

and our advice needs to be put in the context of who are intended reading audience is: we work in large-scale dev where a typical product is 500-2000 people and — key point — the typical “site strategy” of the leadership in our client companies is, “Developers are basically the same everywhere. And if you need to do big work, we need to hire more bodies. So let’s add 700 more people in China to this release, so we can go faster.” Our advice above is a counter to this mindset, and we still stand by it in this context.

regards, craig

Something about current hiring practices seems to look for someone as much like the job description as possible. Those 6 years in accounting and 2 years in customer support seem to count against you, because they are not in the job description.

I really enjoyed the article, the biggest danger I noticed with hiring the best is the fact that you create a completely arrogant culture. In fact you are already on your way to group think almost immediately.

The problem becomes bigger when the group then has not got the ability to resonate with people who are “not the best” which also significantly impacts productivity.

If such a group is allow to mature, the issues magnify as the fire is now pulling in the fuel to grow bigger. I will only hire people who agree with “the best”..

A great article.

Regards,
martin.

Find me an enthusiast, open to learn and apply oriented communicator and I’ll hire that person.

Great post.

The same can be true in hiring. Involve the team early in the decision process! This builds morale, the team generally knows what skills the group needs, and it creates a culture where the existing team is willing to invest in the new members into great contributors.

David