Based on a real project experience, this presentation covers all dimensions that make great teams: hiring, communications, methodology, environment, culture, and community.
Producer : Lone Star Ruby Conference
How to Build a Sustainably Awesome Development Team
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I have a hard time taking hiring/culture advice from companies like this that don’t have a diverse (in terms of age) employee group. I’ve seen a lot of these “fresh new approach” type of companies. They usually target new college grads by appearing “cooler” than well-established traditional organizations. These companies survive by hiring cheap labor (recent college slaves/grads) so that they can undercut competitors on bids. Eventually, the employee realizes that the coolness factor is skin deep, what they really want is a job that will support their life goals. These companies rely on the assumption that everyone wants work to be the sole focus of their lives and when you are just entering the work-force this is probably true. Eventually, people learn that although programming is fun, there are other things that are more important in life.
Back when I was looking for a job, I would always try to get a sense of the age range of the people that work there. If there wasn’t a relatively even age distribution that company would be off the list for me. I want to know that there are people in the company that have stayed (for an extended period of time) because they are satisfied with their jobs.
Most of the companies with a predominately young staff develop using a brute-force approach (overworked developers) no matter how agile/lean they claim to be.