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"Your problem is finding ways to help your best people stay happy and achieve levels you haven't invented yet. That problem is the one that defeated me, but I'd
by herdrick 18y ago
"Your problem is finding ways to help your best people stay happy and achieve levels you haven't invented yet. That problem is the one that defeated me, but I'd rather have that one than any other."
Wow - I couldn't disagree more. That's the absolute worst problem you can have. Anything that encourages your best programmers to leave is poison.
- gjm11 18y agoFor sure, anything that encourages your best programmers to leave is Really Bad. My interpretation of the quoted sentences isn't "Having my best people leave is the best problem I could have" but "Having people good enough that I can't make a meaningful performance scale that they aren't at the top of is the best problem I could have". Which isn't obviously wrong, though presumably it's not because of implementing Spolsky's scheme that he had such good people.