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Ask HN: Critique my company

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Re: Ask HN: Critique my company

#61

Post by glenneroo »

reckoner2 wrote: post #26

How much time are you giving them to prepare an answer? 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 th…

This would definitely help. We all have yearly "performance reviews" with our next highest-up in command. 2 weeks beforehand they email a questionnaire (roughly 12 questions) which we are expected to at least read over, though it's preferred that we fill it out and bring it with us to the meeting so we can have a proper constructive discussion. AFAIK many things that are mentioned by multiple people are implemented in some form or other, or if not, management tells us their justification against implementation. The meeting is confidential and they remind us that any feedback that is passed on will be anonymous (though I'm guessing after mentioning 10 years in a row that we need a ping pong table, they probably know who it is).

Re: Ask HN: Critique my company

#62

Post by segmondy »

Start by critizing yourself. What I do before asking this question is point out our known flaws.

Hey, we have some issues here and here, this is how we are working towards improving it. For example, we could be doing a better job at writing documentation, etc, etc. What I love about having new developer join us is the new ideas they could bring on board, we are open minded to learning and getting better, from what you have seen so far, what can we do to improve? What should we try?

Re: Ask HN: Critique my company

#63

Post by nzmsv »

There's little point in complaining about stuff if it's never going to get fixed. That just labels one a complainer. Try rephrasing the question like this: if you could take 1-3 months away from your regular job to fix something in our infrastructure or codebase, what would it be? Then you can follow up by actually letting people do this. And there is no reason to limit this to new hires. Plenty of frustrations come up over time.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my company

#64

Post by TheAlchemist »

You're asking the right question, but I suppose not in a right way. From my experience you need to show them that it's the company culture to challenge things in a smart and constructive way. To do that, you do nothing very formal, just sit your best guys with the newcomer, explaining how things works and why. And sometimes, criticizing the current stuff, but not in a authoritarian way - something like we know we can do better, just nothing really worked well or we didn't have time but now we do.

That way it feels much more like -> we have something we could do better, and the guys are trying to improve that, let's do that with them. While 'critique' immediately feels negative and kind of creates a barrier.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my company

#65

Post by dmlittle »

I remember hearing about a CEO that was unable to get any feedback from the board of directors until the phrasing of the question asked shifted from criticism/feedback to advice.

People are worried of giving criticism because you're effectively asking them to rate/evaluate your performance. However, when you ask for advice you're either asking what the other person would do in your shoes or you give them an opportunity to boast about their knowledge. While the end goal is the same, at a psychological level, the perceived reason for the question is different.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my company

#66

Post by fwefwwfe »

hdhzy wrote: post #52
tormeh wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you're leaving, so everything you say will be viewed in that light. People should be objective about feedback, but they aren't. The way they see it, you're telling them they suck on your way out the door, and they probably want to answer "fuck you too".

Well I never left because someone "sucked" (didn't have X, Y, Z or didn't do A, B or C) and the feedback was generally actionable sometimes even with references to literature and research. But if people have problem with feedback why are they asking for it?

It's company policy and it gives them an opportunity to think of a positive spin for things before someone else hears about the complaints first, say though glassdoor or some other means.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my company

#67

Post by fwefwwfe »

Managers always seem quick-witted enough to come up with justifications for anything, sometimes even preemptively declaring they don't want to hear about subject X. So why would I point out obvious things? And why not ask the other devs? You have lot more of them. Plus a week is pretty early. You could ask them every month or every other month.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my company

#69

Post by cgrusden »

Hire me, I'll tell you - short of that, keep asking like a broken record at the end of every week. At some point they might break down and tell you -

Here's how I implemented what you're asking to my company: I would first ask how they are doing and how the project is going. And then I would ask if theres anything we could improve - the first few times, nothing. After that, they would tell me improvements (finally)

Re: Ask HN: Critique my company

#70

Post by bbcbasic »

tormeh wrote: post #24
hdhzy wrote: post #16

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).

Well, you're leaving, so everything you say will be viewed in that light. People should be objective about feedback, but they aren't. The way they see it, you're telling them they suck on your way out the door, and they probably want to answer "fuck you too".

I agree and moreover why risk losing a reference? When older references may be non contactable that's a risk that many including me wouldn't take.
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