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I've got a fairly extensive background in software development and management and the most striking thing at digg was there was no attempt at what's colloquiall

by ojbyrne 16y ago

I've got a fairly extensive background in software development and management and the most striking thing at digg was there was no attempt at what's colloquially known as "management," at least up until 2007 when I left. There was no such thing as a performance evaluation. The founder and CEO mostly worked on side projects or spent time "taking money off the table." There were lots of parties and social events. They could have evaluated mediocre developers, put them on performance improvement plans, and if they failed to improve, fire them. They were too busy. In the podcast, I didn't hear any mention of what I'm talking about. I heard "we hired too many B and C people."

redthrowaway 16y ago
Fair enough. What do you think would have improved the company, be it hiring decisions, management style, or something else?
- ojbyrne 16y ago
  Fewer side projects. More focus. Less empire building. Instead of "we need to scale to a 100 million,", there should have been incremental improvement. "we need to serve the next 5% (growth) better than the last 5%." To do that we have to be a better company (incrementally). And repeat.
  - redthrowaway 16y ago
    Well if you can carry those lessons on with you, then I'd say it was a worthwhile experience. They seem to be obvious in theory, but nonexistent in practice.
alexbosworth 16y ago
I interviewed with Digg in the early days (not sure you remember me but with you Owen) I think while finding big successes can be hard, dealing with them once you have them can be even harder. Kevin was pretty quick to realize that Twitter/Facebook were going to eat Digg's chances of become a huge company, but it wasn't trivial to figure a response to that. It's a valid question: should Digg have even tried to grow grow grow or just been happy owning their area? Engineering gripes I think were mostly focused on acquisition and investment attractiveness. There probably is also some elitism in the Valley: if you don't have the right pedigree and look the way that fits what people expect you don't deserve success
- eurohacker 16y ago
  you say: Kevin was pretty quick to realize that Twitter/Facebook were going to eat Digg's chances of become a huge company. Then why Digg´s main competitor Reddit.com is growing like crazy these days ? its because Digg was managed badly ..
  - cicloid 16y ago
    Maybe because their users are merging with previous Digg users? The ship is sinking really fast, after all...
- chris11 16y ago
  IMO Twitter/Facebook are not directly competing with digg. Digg was a news aggregator, Twitter/Facebook aren't.
  - protomyth 16y ago
    I pretty much switch from Digg / RSS to twitter as a news aggregator once sufficient sites got twitter accounts to follow. I don't think I am a unique case.
gcheong 16y ago
I'm doubtful of the idea that performance evaluations and performance improvement plans are the answer to lack of management, but only because the way I've seen them implemented so far. They seem to be used mainly as threats from management or as a CYA step to firing someone rather than serving the needs of the people subjected to them.

by ojbyrne 16y ago

redthrowaway 16y ago

Fair enough. What do you think would have improved the company, be it hiring decisions, management style, or something else?

ojbyrne 16y ago
Fewer side projects. More focus. Less empire building. Instead of "we need to scale to a 100 million,", there should have been incremental improvement. "we need to serve the next 5% (growth) better than the last 5%." To do that we have to be a better company (incrementally). And repeat.
- redthrowaway 16y ago
  Well if you can carry those lessons on with you, then I'd say it was a worthwhile experience. They seem to be obvious in theory, but nonexistent in practice.

alexbosworth 16y ago

I interviewed with Digg in the early days (not sure you remember me but with you Owen) I think while finding big successes can be hard, dealing with them once you have them can be even harder. Kevin was pretty quick to realize that Twitter/Facebook were going to eat Digg's chances of become a huge company, but it wasn't trivial to figure a response to that. It's a valid question: should Digg have even tried to grow grow grow or just been happy owning their area? Engineering gripes I think were mostly focused on acquisition and investment attractiveness. There probably is also some elitism in the Valley: if you don't have the right pedigree and look the way that fits what people expect you don't deserve success

eurohacker 16y ago
you say: Kevin was pretty quick to realize that Twitter/Facebook were going to eat Digg's chances of become a huge company. Then why Digg´s main competitor Reddit.com is growing like crazy these days ? its because Digg was managed badly ..
- cicloid 16y ago
  Maybe because their users are merging with previous Digg users? The ship is sinking really fast, after all...
chris11 16y ago
IMO Twitter/Facebook are not directly competing with digg. Digg was a news aggregator, Twitter/Facebook aren't.
- protomyth 16y ago
  I pretty much switch from Digg / RSS to twitter as a news aggregator once sufficient sites got twitter accounts to follow. I don't think I am a unique case.

gcheong 16y ago

I'm doubtful of the idea that performance evaluations and performance improvement plans are the answer to lack of management, but only because the way I've seen them implemented so far. They seem to be used mainly as threats from management or as a CYA step to firing someone rather than serving the needs of the people subjected to them.