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And it creates a great feedback culture as i can give feedback as a normal user or anonymously and i can even vote anonymously. The simplicity reduces the perceived effort and makes it more likely that someone gives feedback. The optional anonymity takes out the fear.
(Disclosure: I work for STOMT)
Sounds like what is happening here.
Your developers are smart - they don't want to shake the tree. They know that even though you say you want constructive criticism, there's a good chance you'll resent them for giving it to you, so they take the safe road. Ask the ones who leave, but wait 5 months until they're comfortably settled into new employment. You can bet they'll give it to you straight, but you might not like that either.
Good idea. I personally had given feedback every time I left a company and the reaction was always either no improvement to slight adversity. So naturally I stopped giving feedback. Maybe instead of simple feedback it would be worth to just task the developer with improving something that they will see as problematic (kind of 20% time but for improvement).
You need to put something concrete behind your words. One off-the-top-of-my-head suggestion: Have a few current engineers start working on some of your known problems as part of their responsibilities. It doesn't have to be 100% their job, just a "kaizen" approach is ok (improve some small part each time they use it). Let them know it will be part of their evaluations.
Now when you ask new employees point to these examples: "John noticed our tracking system was crummy and important issues were slipping through the cracks, so we offered to let him be in charge of re-vamping it."
Obviously you'll have to manage what you allow them to improve, and who gets to work on it. This idea isn't perfect, of course, but the idea is to show them you are serious about these suggestions.
X% of management is aligning incentives (X is some large number). Think about how to incentivize them to give the information you want, and how to remove disincentives. Money and responsibility / autonomy are the most basic incentives.
If a senior member of the company scheduled a meeting and then asked me on the spot what I would improve about the company I wouldn't be able to give any good ideas.
If instead they sent me a note saying that in three days they would like to meet with me for twenty minutes, and that during this time they would like to hear my thoughts so far about working for the company and to please think about ways in which you think the company can improve. I would be able to provide many ideas in this scenario.
Remember it's stuff you've seen everyday for 14 years, and these people have seen it for maybe 20 minutes. I'd suggest giving them some flow charts / high-level info either in advance or with 20 minutes of quiet time on-site.
The only people I'd expect to respond in the current setting would:
1) Have really high natural intelligence to pick everything up super fast,
2) Be really confident in their skills in the relevant disciplines, and
3) Be really confident you'd take feedback constructivelyThere's an enormous amount of perceived risk on their end as they have nothing really to gain, and everything to lose.
And I say perceived because it sounds like you're a good guy and are genuinely seeking honest feedback, but they don't know that, to them this whole thing might be a shit test and if they say the wrong thing they could get on your, the founders, bad side.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good idea. I personally had given feedback every time I left a company and the reaction was always either no improvement to slight adversity. So naturally I stopped giving feedback. Maybe instead of simple feedback it would be worth to just task the developer with improving something that they will see as problematic (kind of 20% time but for improvement).
Rules #1: Never talk when you leave. Just leave. Whatever you say, it can only make it worse.
Now, let me start by saying I don't intend for this to be a suggestion for everyone in every situation, I just want to suggest that sometimes it can make things better.
I left my job three months ago, but I had actually tried to quit about 6 months earlier, instead I ended up switching positions. None of the problems I was having really ended up getting resolved after the my first attempt to quit, which is why I ended up actually leaving after giving it 6 months. But from what I've heard from friends still there, since I left they've actually been trying to fix things.
For the last month or so, my boss knew I was again debating leaving and we ended up having at least one conversation a week about things that were wrong. For me personally, it was great, I didn't have that stupid voice in the back of my head telling me to downplay everything. I think he appreciated how candid I was too.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everyone should always do this. I worked for a company with ~150 people and I was the 12th hire, with my boss coming in shortly after me. However, saying you should never do it isn't true either.
this may be exactly what you need for development, but it'd probably be healthy to bring in some more precocious elements ... maybe as interns so you're not committed to a culture shift