Performance Management

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  • The Gervais Principle

    There are three groups of people within an organization: Sociopaths (tend to be at the top running the company, characterized by self-interest and need to control), Clueless (tend to be middle management, characterized by misplaced loyalty to the organization), and Losers (tend to be at the bottom, characterized by striking a bad economic bargain). The Gervais Principle speaks to the dynamics between these three groups with the Office as allegory.

  • Cutting Your Losses

    It becomes exponentially more difficult to make up for losses as they increase. A loss of 90% would need a gain of 900% to recover from it. Cutting your losses is important so that you don’t fall into the trap of an exponentially larger hole.

  • Use Impeccable Agreements for Better Productivity and Morale

    Impeccable agreements create accountability and motivation. This improves productivity and morale for high-performing teams.

  • How to Ramp up a Software Engineer

    To get a new software engineer up to speed quickly, several things must already be in place. An assigned buddy who can be the first point of contact for questions or issues that arise. A manager with a written ramp up plan for the new employee with clear guidance on performance expectations. A self-serve development environment with clear documentation for getting your code base running locally.

  • Topgrading Reduces Mis-Hire Rate

    In a study of companies that implemented a topgrading interview methodology, the mis-hire rate fell from 69.3% to 10.5%.

  • Performance Archetype of Engineers I’Ve Managed

    Below are some shapes of engineers I’ve managed in my career and what I’ve learned about them. Pattern matching based on experience is important in an experiential field like management.

  • 85% Rule

    When doing an activity that requires peak performance, strive for 85% of what you believe is your best. This results in doing better than if you were to try to hit your maximum. You relax more, your form improves, and you are more consistent throughout the performance.