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Certainly if a person is not willing to have his assumptions challenged, then the "hang out" test will tend to attract and replicate more of the same. But it's

Certainly if a person is not willing to have his assumptions challenged, then the "hang out" test will tend to attract and replicate more of the same. But it's still an important question for reducing conflict and confusion in hard-working teams who will be spending a lot of time together. The "hang out" test (or "Sunday test" or "airport test") has its imperfections, certainly. I'm wondering, what would be a better assessment of cultural fit?

tptacek 13y ago
Not assessing cultural fit in that sense at all.
- theorique 13y ago
  But what co-workers will I drink beers with until midnight after work then?! ;)
- lawnchair_larry 13y ago
  I feel like I agree with your aversion to the "hang out test" because it's just wrong to do that, but I also know that for me personally, work is far more motivating when I'm friends with my coworkers. Especially when travel is involved. I can't be the only one who feels this way, so it would be hard not to factor this in when hiring, especially with a small startup. Do you really think that the added motivation from working with "friends" is insignificant?
  - tptacek 13y ago
    I agree, I "like liking" my coworkers too. I guess I'd just encourage hiring managers to consider that: (a) it's hard to predict who people are going to be friends with; we have 9-5 people with kids, 20- somethings that live in the hipster hotspots, board game geeks, people who drink beer, people who hate beer, people who don't drink at all, and a variety of ages, and everyone seems to get along and enjoy having lunch together. (b) monocultures are risky in social environments too; for instance, they become incestuous and breed drama; one team member leaves in a huff and your whole team's morale can get seriously screwed up. (c) if you're getting a company culture by literally hiring everyone's friends, that team is going to be hard to manage top-down. If you don't have a top-down management culture, that might be fine. But a lot of companies that think they're not top down really are; most companies are managed top-down.

tptacek 13y ago

Not assessing cultural fit in that sense at all.

theorique 13y ago
But what co-workers will I drink beers with until midnight after work then?! ;)
lawnchair_larry 13y ago
I feel like I agree with your aversion to the "hang out test" because it's just wrong to do that, but I also know that for me personally, work is far more motivating when I'm friends with my coworkers. Especially when travel is involved. I can't be the only one who feels this way, so it would be hard not to factor this in when hiring, especially with a small startup. Do you really think that the added motivation from working with "friends" is insignificant?
- tptacek 13y ago
  I agree, I "like liking" my coworkers too. I guess I'd just encourage hiring managers to consider that: (a) it's hard to predict who people are going to be friends with; we have 9-5 people with kids, 20- somethings that live in the hipster hotspots, board game geeks, people who drink beer, people who hate beer, people who don't drink at all, and a variety of ages, and everyone seems to get along and enjoy having lunch together. (b) monocultures are risky in social environments too; for instance, they become incestuous and breed drama; one team member leaves in a huff and your whole team's morale can get seriously screwed up. (c) if you're getting a company culture by literally hiring everyone's friends, that team is going to be hard to manage top-down. If you don't have a top-down management culture, that might be fine. But a lot of companies that think they're not top down really are; most companies are managed top-down.