The right people for the job

One of the largest challenges expansion stage software companies face is getting the right people for the job. Sometimes, this is a major driver for companies to raise venture capital financing: get the cash, the validation, and the network to recruit the best people into the company, especially for the senior management teams.

After all, people are key to creating competitive advantage, and the first value in the Agile Manifesto (www.agilemanifesto.org/) revolves around them:
“Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.”

Here are two starting points to help make sure you have the right individuals in the right roles, whether via external recruiting or internal promotion, before you even start considering specific individuals:

• Very clearly define the results you expect from the role in the next 3, 6, 9, 12 months, and determine how much risk you’re willing to tolerate with those results. That is, are you okay if the results are missed to some degree, and to what degree? 
• Get very sharp on what capabilities are needed in an individual to execute the role successfully. This is actually very difficult to do. Ask:
  • What skills are necessary? 
  • What experience is necessary to both validate the skills and to make sure the skills are in the right context?
  • What personality will mesh well with the existing team and culture?
  • Can this individual grow and do they need to grow given the role and company strategy? 
  • How flexible / adaptive is this individual, and how flexible / adaptive do they need to be given the company and culture?

There are many more questions to ask, and things to consider, but I find that a lot of “bad hires” or unsuccessful promotions can be traced to failures right here.

In my next several posts, I’ll discuss each of these issues in more detail.