check the coffee machine, general cleanliness of the office especially breakroom if they are clean and well stocked,look for notices on printers or washroom's that "xxxxx is not working & repairs has been notified". See if they have a gym,check the condition of office chairs,are they ergonomic ?. Ask about appraisal process and career path. If they dont answer well and the interviewer is not clear on that,it means an unhealthy org structure.
Finally check on glassdoor and a wild card search on google with the email domain of the org,something interesting might come up.
Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
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Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
#22I would ask them what, specifically, within the organization itself failed w/r/t the manager being replaced and what has the organization changed to prevent the same thing from happening in the future. For example, did they not evaluate the manager before putting them into a position where they failed? How do they know it was a communication problem? Remember, this question is not asking the details of what happened…
It's interesting in these situations to see the outgoing manager's departure as much as a failure of that manager as of the organization itself. I think you're exactly right to be diagnosing why the manager didn't work out as an org issue itself.
Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
#23Some interesting advice I got from another thread a while back: During your interview excuse yourself to the restroom at some point. The general cleanliness there says a lot about how they value employees.
>During your interview excuse yourself to the restroom at some point.
And annoy the hell out of the interviewer because you can't time a toilet visit to fall outside of a key event? No thanks
Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
#24So they told you, an external candidate, that they're firing someone, and that you would take their position? That's a pretty big red flag with respect to organizational behavior. It seems incredibly unprofessional.
I would say this is fine, this position will likely inherit the bad juju from the previous candidate and should go into the position eyes-wide open. What they need is a person who can acknowledge previous mistakes and make incremental changes to guide the team to the right operations. They want to understand what about this candidate will make the situation different from the last candidate and in order to do that they need to discuss the previous employees shortcoming.
I actually enjoy replacing someone who is a poor communicator because you have a real chance to influence direction and growth just by acting like a normal, decent person.
To answer the original poster's question - if you have to ask this question, it's very likely there are organizational challenges. In fact, at every company there are organizational challenges, team challenges, your job as a leader is to address them. If you want to only work for great teams and never have to deal with challenges, you should consider not being a manager/leader at all, then you don't have to worry about them.
I would pay more attention to whether the company itself is financially stable, growing, hiring and innovating. If not, run.
Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
#25"Communication" issues is a catchall b.s. reason rarely used for legitimate reasons. Whenever i hear it my b.s. radar sounds and I instantly suspect the person claiming another has communication problems as trying to undermine them...throw them under the bus etc.
The reason being is its an abstract issue that is hard to define or fix.
Have them clearly define the "communication" issue that led to the person getting fired.
Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
#26Communications issues are usually two-sided so I'd lean more heavily towards figuring out what those could be. 30 people split between 3 timezones is challenging.
1) Ask why the other person is leaving for real. They should be vulnerable and tell you the truth. Sometimes they'll hide behind something like "thats confidential" which you can't really argue with, but I'd dig into it. If they get nervous walk away.
2) Ask them what systems or processes they want to improve or change and why. What isn't working? etc.
3) How will you be evaluated in your role. Sometimes there are unclear expectations from managers or any other "leadership" style role at a company. This isn't OK because it might just take one person to change their mind about how you're doing for you to be "not good enough". Again; dig into it.
4) How is the company doing from a financial perspective. Whats the burn? Whats the revenue? What's the LTV/CAC? If they can't answer or won't, I'd consider that a red flag.
5) How is the product roadmap set. How far out are they thinking? Make sure it lines up with your vision of how to organize groups the right way.
Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
#27Observe the employees. Is the office full after 5 - 6 PM? Is everyone looking at the floor when the boss walk in? Is everyone's nails bitten to a bloody mess? Are there any female employees? Are the desk too clean and absent of personal items?
Do the employees hide their flasks in their desks and sip furtively and alone? Do they cry in the restroom before or after meetings? Is it a Dilbert cartoon on the fridge or is it XKCD? Are the only Pokémon to be found Rattatas? What is going on with the coffee?
How far away is the nearest gym?
Are there even any 'stops where you might meet others for lunch?
Pretty much, what is the density of the tech-aware crowd in that area?
Another good one: are the near by ash trays in use? If you're a non-smoker (like me) this is a red flag too.
Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
#28A friend of mine once said he asked an interviewer, "so just how screwed up is this company"? Not because he expected a straight answer, but because he wanted to watch the interviewer's first reaction -- if their facial expression showed genuine surprise, or a knowing nod, maybe even an incriminating smile...
Serious question here: Are there any companies that aren't at least a little messy? They are run by humans, so if there's NO dirt at all isn't that a tell as well?
Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
#29Observe the employees. Is the office full after 5 - 6 PM? Is everyone looking at the floor when the boss walk in? Is everyone's nails bitten to a bloody mess? Are there any female employees? Are the desk too clean and absent of personal items?
I like my desk clean and absent of personal items :(
Re: Ask HN: Interview tomorrow – How to learn whether an org is “healthy”?
#30"Communication" issues is a catchall b.s. reason rarely used for legitimate reasons. Whenever i hear it my b.s. radar sounds and I instantly suspect the person claiming another has communication problems as trying to undermine them...throw them under the bus etc. The reason being is its an abstract issue that is hard to define or fix. Have them clearly define the "communication" issue that led to the person getting f…
It is often used this way similar to the word "unprofessional". But, in the context of a manager of a muti-continent team could be quite legit and easy to define in more detail