I thought this originated at Microsoft long before Google with stack rankings of your team members.
Stack ranking is different than peer review. Google used to have both, but got rid of stack ranking.
Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
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Re: Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
#72I'd guess a lot of people would have their own special stories to tell. However, do not underestimate the fact that some of these stories might not be easily disclosed. A "friend of mine", let's call it Bob, decided to leave one of the big tech companies (call it "A"), and join another big tech company (call it "B"), which offers him exactly double the salary. Due to a very unlucky combination, a former colleague at…
I know of a similar case, the employee in question had to go through a similar process of questioning and audits just because they switched from FAANG A to B and somehow their manager came to know about it. After that incident, many members left the team for other companies; they’ve been careful to not update their LinkedIn page with the actual company that they’re working for. When asked, they often said that they w…
This is sadly some of the best advice you can ever give to someone in tech: never, *ever*, disclose the place you are going to. After the fact, when you arrive, sure, consider it. Eventually. But never before, and especially not before everything is signed and the ink is dry.
Re: Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean non-ridiculous companies/people claiming that. Google definitely used to have that mythos/meme (said by others, so the company didn't have to say it), but I don't hear anyone saying that recently.
Netflix does. I don't know any other company that is more honest than: > A dream team is one in which all of your colleagues are extraordinary at what they do and highly effective working together. [...] Dream teams are about performance, [...] Sustained “B” performance, despite an “A” for effort, gets a severance package with respect. https://jobs.netflix.com/culture
Really not buying it. Especially when it is already tough to measure impact.
Launched a front page redesign. How do you measure this as positive? Amount of time customers spend on it? Could be a negative. Number of folks who convert from trial to paying subscriber? Objective, but not necessarily because of you. How about latency? Not bad, but what does X ms convert into Y dollars made more? Amount of time people spend "chilling"?
Now, start imagining the backend team out there responsible for closed captions. Not on a critical path for conversions, subscription upgrades, etc. How do you measure their impact? Surveys for customer satisfaction? Amount of text you can put onscreen? Accolades from an accessibility advocacy group? Amount of bytes needed to transmit text in the stream?
Re: Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
#74I'd guess a lot of people would have their own special stories to tell. However, do not underestimate the fact that some of these stories might not be easily disclosed. A "friend of mine", let's call it Bob, decided to leave one of the big tech companies (call it "A"), and join another big tech company (call it "B"), which offers him exactly double the salary. Due to a very unlucky combination, a former colleague at…
Was this in California?
yes, a decade or so ago.
Re: Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately, I think it's the only way to do it. Corporate incentives are weird. Firing people is tough. If you don't force it, people find a way to just go along with the status quo. If you let them, managers all report that their teams are just super high functioning . And that path leads to mediocrity. Just like how the peer rating system devolved into bland platitudes. From an executive's standpoint, where you…
I hear you from an executive's perspective. Executives are too far removed. But this is why even with a smaller scale of soccer teams (25 first team+25 reserve players), soccer teams don't force a stack rank instituted by the executive. They let the manager do hiring and firing decisions BUT, the manager is going to be on the chopping block for not achieving the team's goals - not the players. This leads to two benef…
So I think your points 1 & 2 apply whether stack ranking is implemented or not.
Either way, the direct managers decide who to fire, not an executive.
The difference stack ranking makes is not who to fire, but whether anyone is going to be fired.
In theory, the manager is on the chopping block. But in reality, success is difficult to measure in business. Often the contributions of orgs are subtle and difficult to measure. The effects are often only apparent years later, if ever.
Re: Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
#76My company didn’t believe in peer feedback, but only manager’s. My manager used to absent-minded in almost all the places. So much, that he himself wasn’t aware of requirements. But someone had to take the blame. And it was turned on me. I protested and got fired. In the end, the article somehow protects individuals giving out review but I totally blame them for unfair review. As a manager it’s their responsibility t…
In my company’s last round, the VP leading the effort (audience of engineering managers and senior ICs only) flat out stated feedback from managers doesn’t count, only from senior ICs. For engineers, at least.
Unfortunately, senior ICs can play favorites and be toxic just as well as managers.
Re: Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
#77Related: An updated meta-analysis of the interrater reliability of supervisory performance ratings. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-47758-001
Re: Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
#78There is no reliable method for evaluating developer performance, and involving a committee doesn't change that. Bearing that in mind it is important to cynically evaluate what these tools are for - a form of soft power for managers, so they have carrots and sticks to use when enforcing some sort of team discipline. There probably is some sort of objective "performance" that we can't measure directly. Some programmer…
> But all the theatre isn't a tool for performance, it is a tool for discipline.
Well said! I think it is merely an attempt to have some sort of baseline at a aggregate level which is impossible at the individual level (without the cooperation of the Individual).
Re: Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
#79> The promise of a more egalitarian performance management process is a part of the mythos of Big Tech; but it’s also a fascinating study of painting oneself into a corner, unable to walk back. What other Big Tech cultural policies haven't worked out, but they're stuck with? And are those mimicked by countless other companies?
The best way to study this is starting with Jeffrey Pfeffer's Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time.
Re: Hell is other people: performance management at Big Tech
#80I'd guess a lot of people would have their own special stories to tell. However, do not underestimate the fact that some of these stories might not be easily disclosed. A "friend of mine", let's call it Bob, decided to leave one of the big tech companies (call it "A"), and join another big tech company (call it "B"), which offers him exactly double the salary. Due to a very unlucky combination, a former colleague at…
I've observed this scenario occur frequently. The lesson I've learned is to remain silent until your new job in the new company stabilizes, and then, after some time, share the news with the world. This gives you 2 things 1. Time to acclimate to a new company. If things don't go as planned, there's always mostly the option to boomerang. 2. The likelihood of your previous employer imparting a 'lesson' significantly de…
Or not! Share with your friends and family, sure, but why does the world have to know?