4 ms·

Exactly. Why hire someone into the company who might end up competing against you? The veto is a gift for Machiavellians lurking in the officefor

by yapcguy 13y ago

jeffbarr 13y ago
It doesn't work that way. The whole idea of the Bar Raiser (this should be evident from the name) is that we want to raise the expectations for a particular level or job position over time. The goal is to keep improving the quality of our hires at a given level over time.
- vladimirralev 13y ago
  The goal is clear, but how do you motivate "bar raisers" to work against themselves? If they hire smarter people than themselves they will be made obsolete. If you are not smart enough to see that you will be replaced by someone who will and the next iteration will correct the problem. It's a system that always converges to a "shrinking, but reasonable and politically correct cap on the performance".
  - SubuSS 13y ago
    To address that, as the article mentions - Bar raisers interview in another part of the company. They can't bar raise for their own team. And in a 110k employee company, to think one extra hire will obsolete you is extreme paranoia. You would rather hire smart folks and increase the company value.
    - vladimirralev 13y ago
      The negative selection rule applies transitively. It's not just one extra hire, these bar raisers hire 100s of people. Increasing the company value matters only if you own a stake in it that is big enough to offset the risk. And last but not least, in the context of software engineering and monekysphere(location) the population drops to less than a 1-2K people, not 110K. It's a double-edged sword, if you hire smart people but demand them to act stupid, they will implode the company.
- r00fus 13y ago
  The goal of No Child Left Behind was to raise the standards of schools over time. What ended up happening (some might say "as intended") was unrealistic expectations used to cut funding for schools that didn't kowtow to the state/federal rules and politicians. The concept of a constantly increased expectations needs to be tethered to reality or it becomes a ripe condition for abuse (see stacked ranking).
walshemj 13y ago
Or hiring people who you know will get stacked ranked out to protect your position.

Exactly. Why hire someone into the company who might end up competing against you? The veto is a gift for Machiavellians lurking in the officefor

by yapcguy 13y ago

Exactly. Why hire someone into the company who might end up competing against you? The veto is a gift for Machiavellians lurking in the officefor

jeffbarr 13y ago

It doesn't work that way. The whole idea of the Bar Raiser (this should be evident from the name) is that we want to raise the expectations for a particular level or job position over time. The goal is to keep improving the quality of our hires at a given level over time.

vladimirralev 13y ago
The goal is clear, but how do you motivate "bar raisers" to work against themselves? If they hire smarter people than themselves they will be made obsolete. If you are not smart enough to see that you will be replaced by someone who will and the next iteration will correct the problem. It's a system that always converges to a "shrinking, but reasonable and politically correct cap on the performance".
- SubuSS 13y ago
  To address that, as the article mentions - Bar raisers interview in another part of the company. They can't bar raise for their own team. And in a 110k employee company, to think one extra hire will obsolete you is extreme paranoia. You would rather hire smart folks and increase the company value.
  - vladimirralev 13y ago
    The negative selection rule applies transitively. It's not just one extra hire, these bar raisers hire 100s of people. Increasing the company value matters only if you own a stake in it that is big enough to offset the risk. And last but not least, in the context of software engineering and monekysphere(location) the population drops to less than a 1-2K people, not 110K. It's a double-edged sword, if you hire smart people but demand them to act stupid, they will implode the company.
r00fus 13y ago
The goal of No Child Left Behind was to raise the standards of schools over time. What ended up happening (some might say "as intended") was unrealistic expectations used to cut funding for schools that didn't kowtow to the state/federal rules and politicians. The concept of a constantly increased expectations needs to be tethered to reality or it becomes a ripe condition for abuse (see stacked ranking).

walshemj 13y ago

Or hiring people who you know will get stacked ranked out to protect your position.