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We do. We promote and fire based on both performance and cultural evaluations. Engineering had some firings in 2017, and we were supposedly left with the best

We do. We promote and fire based on both performance and cultural evaluations. Engineering had some firings in 2017, and we were supposedly left with the best ones. Problem is, things took a 180 curve somewhere, and it became rough in 2018. Maybe management is to blame, but we changed that too and it kept getting worse.

commandlinefan 8y ago
So.. when you implemented stack ranking and a cutthroat Survivor-island-style “how can you make sure the other guy gets the axe and not me” culture, morale took a nosedive and people started bailing on you? Interesting.
- thrwwyngnr 8y ago
  I upvoted you because you have a completely valid point, but I don't think this is the case here. The people that were fired had some really bad performance, and the team itself agreed on the metrics beforehand. Also, it took about a year after they were fired for the problems (other than their slowness) to start.
jpfr 8y ago
Consulting and “product engineering” are very different in the culture they require to be successful. From your description it sounds your culture is consulting heavy. Read the books by Rands to understand the difference. And his blog posts about engineer personalities and group dynamics. http://randsinrepose.com http://randsinrepose.com
- thrwwyngnr 8y ago
  Thanks for the suggestion, I'll order it!
znpy 8y ago
Did some major management change happen in your company, recently? I've seen this happen, and many people just didn't like where things were going, and how (the "how" was particularly influential, needless to say).
- thrwwyngnr 8y ago
  We had two changes recently. Managers were fired because the team wasn't performing well at all and failed key deliveries. Oh, we're also in our fourth product manager in three years. The previous three left because they were (of course) unable to deliver.
  - Aeolun 8y ago
    Why would you fire a product manager for being unable to deliver if the team is not delivering? I’d probably only be concerned if they were delivering the wrong things (e.g. if business requirement <-> feature translation goes wrong).
    - thrwwyngnr 8y ago
      > Why would you fire a product manager for being unable to deliver if the team is not delivering? Yeah, that's something I also don't understand. Honestly, I'm a bit inclined to think there is a problem with engineering, since they were able to test lots of different strategies and group dynamics in the last three years, and none of them has worked so far.

commandlinefan 8y ago

So.. when you implemented stack ranking and a cutthroat Survivor-island-style “how can you make sure the other guy gets the axe and not me” culture, morale took a nosedive and people started bailing on you? Interesting.

thrwwyngnr 8y ago
I upvoted you because you have a completely valid point, but I don't think this is the case here. The people that were fired had some really bad performance, and the team itself agreed on the metrics beforehand. Also, it took about a year after they were fired for the problems (other than their slowness) to start.

jpfr 8y ago

Consulting and “product engineering” are very different in the culture they require to be successful. From your description it sounds your culture is consulting heavy. Read the books by Rands to understand the difference. And his blog posts about engineer personalities and group dynamics. http://randsinrepose.com http://randsinrepose.com

thrwwyngnr 8y ago
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll order it!

znpy 8y ago

Did some major management change happen in your company, recently? I've seen this happen, and many people just didn't like where things were going, and how (the "how" was particularly influential, needless to say).

thrwwyngnr 8y ago
We had two changes recently. Managers were fired because the team wasn't performing well at all and failed key deliveries. Oh, we're also in our fourth product manager in three years. The previous three left because they were (of course) unable to deliver.
- Aeolun 8y ago
  Why would you fire a product manager for being unable to deliver if the team is not delivering? I’d probably only be concerned if they were delivering the wrong things (e.g. if business requirement <-> feature translation goes wrong).
  - thrwwyngnr 8y ago
    > Why would you fire a product manager for being unable to deliver if the team is not delivering? Yeah, that's something I also don't understand. Honestly, I'm a bit inclined to think there is a problem with engineering, since they were able to test lots of different strategies and group dynamics in the last three years, and none of them has worked so far.