Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
I keep hearing about the “Skills gap.” There is no skills gap. There is a gap between what employers want to pay and what people are willing to work for. I read an article this morning that prompted this post: Talk of a skills gap in the labor market is ‘an incredible cop out’ Let …
This morning, I read For Economy, Aging Population Poses Double Whammy (registration required). If you don’t read the WSJ, here are some interesting takeaways: On average, every 10% increase in the share of state’s population over the age of 60 reduced per capita growth in gross domestic product by 5.5%. … The authors note: “An older …
We talk a lot in agile about generalizing specialists. Scott Ambler has a terrific essay on what a generalizing specialist is: Has one or more technical specialties… Has at least a general knowledge of software development. Has at least a general knowledge of the business domain in which they work. Actively seeks to gain new …
Continue reading “Five Tips to Hiring a Generalizing Specialist”
We often think about a succession plan for managers. But, if you’re not thinking about a succession plan for your technical team, you’re falling prey to local shortages, and hiring the same old kinds of people. You’re not getting diverse people. That means you may not be able to create innovative, great products. It also …
Continue reading “Creating a Succession Plan for Your Technical Team”
There are many hiring traps and shortcuts, especially for technical people. Partially that’s because too few HR people know about technical people. But, partially that’s because too many technical people think, “I have a job, I must know what it takes to hire well.” In my most recent management myth, Management Myth 27: We Can …
Thanks to George Dinwiddie, who pointed me to the hashtag #FiveWordTechHorrors. I have been enjoying that stream. I found “We Only Hire Rock Stars” at some point. I realized I had not written about a common hiring trap in a very long time. Yes, you should hire “stars.” They have to be stars who fit …
On Managing Product Development, I say that feature teams all over the world are fine. But, how do you hire these teams ? One way is to go to that country, hire the first person yourself, and have that person hire the rest. Another way is to hire someone here, wherever here is, and have …
Continue reading “Hiring For an Agile Team: Feature Teams All Over the World”
When I talk about interviewing an agile team, many people think, “Oh, we should pair!” and that’s it. But, many teams don’t pair regularly. If you pair in the interview and you don’t pair at work, you have an incongruent interview. That’s not helpful to you or your candidate. Instead, you want to create an …
Continue reading “Hiring for an Agile Team: Create the Agile Interview”
I have an article up on Infoq: What Do You Look For In Servant Leader? It’s the follow-on article to my What “Scrum Master” Are You Hiring article. I hope you enjoy it.
I said in Hiring for an Agile Team: Making Tradeoffs, that we have a shortage of qualified people for the open agile positions. That’s based on anecdotal evidence, i.e. every hiring manager I talk to who says, “Johanna, I can’t find any agile people.” Most of the time, their ads are broken. But, once we …
Continue reading “Hiring for an Agile Team: Look for the Growth Mindset”