Hiring the Best Talent

Slides as delivered at the SF CTO Summit on 5/10/16

Transcript

1. Hiring the
 
 Best Talent Jeff Casimir / @j3 / turing.io
2. The Big Picture
3. You’re hiring or
 you’re dying
4. Processes & Cargo Cults
5. Surprises and secrecy
 are weakness
6. The ideal interview is deterministic
7. Mature processes are transparent
8. Measuring Mindsets
9. • Growth • Engagement • Agency • Empathy • Grit
10. Curate a process that is…
11. • Mindset-Oriented • Inclusive • Rubric-Driven • Time-Bound
12. Phase 1: Prescreen
13. “Just bring them out 
 for a week!”
14. “Just see if they sound cool.”
15. Using a Rubric:
 Subjective towards Objective
16. Conversation & rubric
 anchored by your mindsets
17. Growth • How do you go about learning a new technology? • What have you most worked to change about yourself in the last three years? • How will joining our team get you closer to becoming the person you want to be?
18. Strength Present Weak Red Growth X Engagement X Agency X Empathy X Grit X
19. Proceed if there are 
 at least two “strong” 
 and no red flags
20. Phase 2: Capabilities
21. Performance task that models the work
22. How often do you start things?
23. Why test the dumbest part?
24. • Functioning application • Your patterns • Your tools • Your domain
25. • Check out a feature branch • Run the acceptance tests • Build the implementation • Push the branch • Submit a pull request
26. Do a timed test run 
 and double it.
27. Evaluate with a
 mindset-anchored rubric
28. Engagement 4: Implements and extends the requested feature 3: Implements the feature correctly 2: Implements the feature and passes the test, but has obvious bugs 1: Implementation does not pass
29. Empathy 4: PR documents changes and highlights any weaknesses/uncertainties 3: PR documents the changes made 2: PR is correctly submitted but does not explain the changes 1: PR is not properly submitted
30. Score Note Growth 3 Followed application patterns Engagement 3 Full implementation Agency 3 Completed on time Empathy 4 PR proposed possible alternative implementation ideas Grit 3 Commits show incremental progress
31. Phase 3: Collaboration
32. Live-collaboration 
 with a team member
33. • Start with their submission • Review weaknesses • Improve existing code • Introduce new requirements • Implement and document
34. Grit 4: Investigative & incremental approach to work through struggles 3: Able to work through struggles 2: Needs direct encouragement to work through struggles 1: Gives up or disengages
35. Agency 4: Advocates for their needs and
 checks-in with their pair 3: Advocates for their needs 2: Needs encouragement to speak up 1: Unwilling to self-advocate
36. Score Note Growth 3 Able to implement ideas discussed Engagement 3 Open communication Agency 3 Advocates for their needs Empathy 4 Offers and responds to critique well Grit 4 Worked through tricky error
37. Phase 4: Potential
38. A developer must 
 understand the business
39. A developer must 
 ask questions
40. Fall in love with the problem, not the solution
41. • Meet with a “vision” person • Reverse interview • Meet with tech manager • Explain their insights & potential role
42. Growth 4: Identifies key growth areas along with
 the beginnings of a growth plan 3: Identifies key ways they’ll need to
 grow to support the team 2: Identifies vague vectors for growth 1: Extremely vague or lacking insight
43. Empathy 4: Shows insight into the experience of the customer and/or team 3: Shows respect for the company, team, product, and end user 2: Shows some lack of understanding of the customer and/or team 1: Shows subtle disrespect to the history, team, or customers
44. Score Note Growth 3 Showed knowledge about the company, product, and customers Engagement 4 Able to ask insightful questions with 
 deep follow-up Agency 3 Actively engaged in the 
 interview/recap process Empathy 3 Demonstrated good understanding of customer experience Grit 3 Proposes a reasonable plan for how they can contribute to the team
45. Epilogue: Logistics
46. • Location & Schedule • Salary & Equity • Mentoring & Pro Dev • Goals & Review Schedule
47. To be continued…
48. • Hire based on mindsets • Evaluate with rubrics • Secrecy < Transparency • Capabilities + Collaboration + Potential Jeff Casimir / @j3 / turing.io Hiring the Best Talent