Sometimes, I work with managers who can't tell the differences between technical people. They seem to think all developers (or testers or project managers or whomever) are equivalent. If you've ever tried to make the case for hiring the best people, read Joel Spolsky's Hitting the High Notes.

Spolsky says

... duplication of software is free. That means that the cost of programmers is spread out over all the copies of the software you sell. With software, you can improve quality without adding to the incremental cost of each unit sold.

Essentially, design adds value faster than it adds cost.

Note that Joel says later in the article,

The quality of the work and the amount of time spent are simply uncorrelated.

Some people work faster than others. But the really great people will have great ideas and work at (overall) similar paces. And, what's more important, the quality of their work is head-and-shoulders above the rest.

So think hard before you let your standards down and hire the next-best, or the third-best. It will cost you time and money.

posted by Johanna Rothman at at 2:59 PM | link |