[dangjc]

Some nuggets of wisdom from the article when managing an engineering org:

- “if the only reason an engineer wants to work for you is because of your tech stack, that may be a warning sign. Culture Amp therefore avoids hiring engineers who are purely technology-focused. As a product company, we seek to hire people who are mostly excited about our product and its mission, and who are happy to learn new things when necessary to progress that. When someone tells us in an interview they’re excited about working here because they like functional programming (say), we count that as an indication they might not be a good fit.”

- “Perhaps the greatest challenge for engineers as they reach more senior levels in their career is to make decisions that balance the moment-to-moment joy (or frustration) that a given tool affords them, and the costs (or benefits) that same tool might create for their team, company or client over time and at scale”

[hgsgm]

>> we seek to hire people who are mostly excited about our product and its mission,

Consider the source: https://www.cultureamp.com/

A completely generic me-too startupy startup. I can't even figure out what their product is.

[jrsj]

Why are the people who talk the most about company culture typically the ones with the cultures I find most off putting?

[sli]

Because if there was something more concrete to offer that isn't done better, either from them or from the firm they represent, they'd go with that instead.

[kevbin]

At least those that talk publicly about company culture. It feels performative and inauthentic, but maybe that's necessary to compete? They are selling culture surveillance technology of some sort.

Reminds me of mandates to get more on the engineering blog: makes an organic, authentic good into something performative.

[Shank]

Culture Amp is a performance review system that lets you give/receive feedback to/from peers and/or their managers. Please view their post with that in-mind.

[kevbin]

“Culture Amp customers experience 2x the rate of innovation”

LOL

[klabb3]

Is there an imperial unit for innovation rate?

[kevbin]

We use:

E = \frac{1}{2} m (\dot{q}^2 - \omega^2 q^2) + \int \Gamma (s) ds + \frac{\sum_{n=1}^{N} (T_{\text{amb}} - T_n) \cdot \text{W}_{\text{AR}}}{\sum_{i=1}^{N} \text{SP}_i \cdot \text{AU}_i}

E: Effective rate of innovation

m: Mass

q: State space coordinate

q': Time derivative of state space coordinate

ω: Frequency

Γ(s): Gamma function

T_amb : Ambient temperature

T_n : Individual temperature

WAR: Wins against replacement

SP_i: story points

AU_i: total active users

or in production:

function calculateInnovationRate(I) { const { a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k } = I; const L = 0.5 * a * (b * 2 - d * 2 * c * 2); const G = e.reduce((acc, x, idx) => acc + x * f[idx], 0); const N = h.reduce((acc, x, idx) => acc + (g - x) * i[idx], 0); const D = j.reduce((acc, x, idx) => acc + x * k[idx], 0);

  return L + G + (N / D);
}

[shp0ngle]

It’s pretty clear to me from the front page?

They provide saas tools for companies to do… HR-y/“company culture” stuff? It’s pretty clear.

I am not the one to be overly excited for that, I don’t really care for HR, but some people might?

[the_only_law]

> HR-y/“company culture” stuff? It’s pretty clear.

Lmao it’s “pretty clear” but you use vague weasel wording to describe it.

[mrmincent]

Maybe it’s just because I’m also based in Melbourne, but I’ve worked for two or three places that use cultureamp, it’s a pretty solid service to help manage personal development goals and employee surveys etc. I even used to work for a competitor of theirs, and I’d rate their stuff much better, I wouldn’t write them off just because you’re not familiar with them.

[ParetoOptimal]

Doesn't this:

> if the only reason an engineer wants to work for you is because of your tech stack, that may be a warning sign. Culture Amp therefore avoids hiring engineers who are purely technology-focused.

For the case of senior engineers conflict with this:

> Perhaps the greatest challenge for engineers as they reach more senior levels in their career is to make decisions that balance the moment-to-moment joy (or frustration) that a given tool affords them