7 ms·

I like the idea of encouraging a high-performance culture, but I don't think the 'perform or die' atmosphere would be healthy for many engineers. I know, idoli

I like the idea of encouraging a high-performance culture, but I don't think the 'perform or die' atmosphere would be healthy for many engineers. I know, idolizing 'rockstar programmers' is a sort of new hotness and I understand that a company like Facebook wants to have super-talented developers, but developers grow and learn new tricks as they mature, and they might take more than six months to do so.

alttab 14y ago
True - but those engineers don't work at Facebook. This isn't no-child left behind. This isn't hand-hold time. This is the most expensive and expansive internet application in the world. If they need time to ramp up, they can do it on someone else's product and come to Facebook when they're ready.
- dot 14y ago
  the most expensive internet application? what do you mean?
- wpietri 14y ago
  That sounds impressively macho, but it's an attitude that has long-term organizational costs. HN just had a great article on how Microsoft's internal competition deeply harmed the company. The number one complaint I hear from departing Google engineers is the absurd internal promotions system. Years ago I did a gig at eBay, and I thought their macho attitude was a giant source of problems. Plenty of good, sane people were driven off (or driven mad) by artificially high-pressure situations. Every email about a promotion mentioned how somebody had worked all night to get something done; they were promoting more for drama than for skill. And a "this isn't hand-hold time" attitude was common among senior technical staff, which meant that people often hid their weaknesses rather than getting the help they needed. The lesson I learned from that is that software companies that take normal circumstances with the intensity of emergencies are gradually cutting their own throats. That's a lesson reinforced for me spending a lot of time with a family member in hospitals last year. Even when survival was on the line, the best doctors and nurses proceeded with patience and kindness, working to train staff and improve systems as they went. In an actual emergency they moved like it was an emergency. But only then. If they can be serene and thoughtful while dealing with brain tumors, I don't think there's any reason that people at Facebook have to puff themselves up with self-importance.
  - alttab 14y ago
    This is a good lesson. I was straight-forward to get a point across, but it is easy to see how "excellence first" could turn into a poor work environment without moderation. It also seems that an "excellence first" culture seems to provoke fears that people can't learn, or aren't allowed to make mistakes. Tone and delivery are important here - especially from leadership. My take on excellence first is you don't have to compromise environment for it. Create an environment that fosters excellence, where people aren't afraid to make mistakes but are committed to learning from them. Everything doesn't need to be treated like an emergency, but theres a level of bullshit on a technical level that shouldn't be tolerated. Again, each situation needs to be felt out individually and moderation is always key. Personally I don't advocate the internal competition aspect of excellence either. The pitfalls of that are well documented as you have pointed out. I'd promote based on team success, and THEN individual contributions. If you can't work as a team then the whole team loses, only once the team succeeds would you start singling people out to see where the best influences were coming from. TLDR - I think there is a middle ground between not running it like a daycare and running it like a wall street trading firm or gulag.
- Daniel_Newby 14y ago
  "This is the most expensive and expansive internet application in the world." Facebook uses chat/pictures to sell ads and cheesy games. Their entire value proposition comes from surfing a wave of attention. What they need are scruffy surfer dudes who keep an eye on the weather, show up at the likeliest beaches, and never stop riding the waves. Anyone with a modicum of skill who keeps paddling out to try again can make a real contribution. What they do not need are rockstars, certified supergeniuses, arrogant hotshots, etc. You can't buy or impress your way to the big waves, you have to ride there. If you try to keep winning by being awesome, you will wipe out. For example, Netscape, AOL, Alta Vista, Geocities, MySpace, and many others.
  - alttab 14y ago
    I never said what they did was important. I said it is the widest used, most distributed, and most encompassing software on the planet. What it provides is trivial, how it does it is not.

alttab 14y ago

True - but those engineers don't work at Facebook. This isn't no-child left behind. This isn't hand-hold time. This is the most expensive and expansive internet application in the world. If they need time to ramp up, they can do it on someone else's product and come to Facebook when they're ready.

dot 14y ago
the most expensive internet application? what do you mean?
wpietri 14y ago
That sounds impressively macho, but it's an attitude that has long-term organizational costs. HN just had a great article on how Microsoft's internal competition deeply harmed the company. The number one complaint I hear from departing Google engineers is the absurd internal promotions system. Years ago I did a gig at eBay, and I thought their macho attitude was a giant source of problems. Plenty of good, sane people were driven off (or driven mad) by artificially high-pressure situations. Every email about a promotion mentioned how somebody had worked all night to get something done; they were promoting more for drama than for skill. And a "this isn't hand-hold time" attitude was common among senior technical staff, which meant that people often hid their weaknesses rather than getting the help they needed. The lesson I learned from that is that software companies that take normal circumstances with the intensity of emergencies are gradually cutting their own throats. That's a lesson reinforced for me spending a lot of time with a family member in hospitals last year. Even when survival was on the line, the best doctors and nurses proceeded with patience and kindness, working to train staff and improve systems as they went. In an actual emergency they moved like it was an emergency. But only then. If they can be serene and thoughtful while dealing with brain tumors, I don't think there's any reason that people at Facebook have to puff themselves up with self-importance.
- alttab 14y ago
  This is a good lesson. I was straight-forward to get a point across, but it is easy to see how "excellence first" could turn into a poor work environment without moderation. It also seems that an "excellence first" culture seems to provoke fears that people can't learn, or aren't allowed to make mistakes. Tone and delivery are important here - especially from leadership. My take on excellence first is you don't have to compromise environment for it. Create an environment that fosters excellence, where people aren't afraid to make mistakes but are committed to learning from them. Everything doesn't need to be treated like an emergency, but theres a level of bullshit on a technical level that shouldn't be tolerated. Again, each situation needs to be felt out individually and moderation is always key. Personally I don't advocate the internal competition aspect of excellence either. The pitfalls of that are well documented as you have pointed out. I'd promote based on team success, and THEN individual contributions. If you can't work as a team then the whole team loses, only once the team succeeds would you start singling people out to see where the best influences were coming from. TLDR - I think there is a middle ground between not running it like a daycare and running it like a wall street trading firm or gulag.
Daniel_Newby 14y ago
"This is the most expensive and expansive internet application in the world." Facebook uses chat/pictures to sell ads and cheesy games. Their entire value proposition comes from surfing a wave of attention. What they need are scruffy surfer dudes who keep an eye on the weather, show up at the likeliest beaches, and never stop riding the waves. Anyone with a modicum of skill who keeps paddling out to try again can make a real contribution. What they do not need are rockstars, certified supergeniuses, arrogant hotshots, etc. You can't buy or impress your way to the big waves, you have to ride there. If you try to keep winning by being awesome, you will wipe out. For example, Netscape, AOL, Alta Vista, Geocities, MySpace, and many others.
- alttab 14y ago
  I never said what they did was important. I said it is the widest used, most distributed, and most encompassing software on the planet. What it provides is trivial, how it does it is not.