how to keep the people you need

How to Keep the People You Need

System AutomationRelease Engineering

Operations

@petecheslock@DynInc

Pete Cheslock

Twitter - @petecheslock

Github/Freenode – petecheslock

Director ofDevTools

Pete Cheslock

Twitter - @petecheslock

Github/Freenode – petecheslock

Director ofAutomation

Pete Cheslock

Twitter - @petecheslock

Github/Freenode – petecheslock

Director ofRelease Engineering

Pete Cheslock

Twitter - @petecheslock

Github/Freenode – petecheslock

Director ofGSD

Pete Cheslock

Twitter - @petecheslock

Github/Freenode – petecheslock

Director ofDeveloper Happiness

Disclaimer

I’m not advocating The Right Way™

Shared Experiences from: Past/Current Companies Books Blog Posts Personal Interactions

You may not be able to keep everyone

@petecheslock

@petecheslock

YMMV

http-//www.web-cars.com/mpg/epa_ymmv.php

@petecheslock

About Myself

Network/System Admin

Pre-sales

Infrastructure Consulting

Building and Managing Ops Teams

Work/Recruit for companies you’ve never heard of (until recently)

@petecheslock

Recruiting = Sisyphus

Difficult

Painful

Forced to Repeat for Eternity (or so it feels like)

http://blog.anthonycoletraining.com/Portals/10395/images/sisyphus-resized-600.jpg

@petecheslock

Losing People Sucks

It’s even more painful when you realize you could have avoided it.

http://robbieabed.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/im-a-quitter.jpg

@petecheslock

Feels Like Failure

Recruitment

Retention

Everything Else

http://leujin.deviantart.com/art/Failure-is-always-an-option-141252872

@petecheslock

Who’s Hiring?

Everyone

Actively Recruiting, Interviewing, Etc?

@petecheslock

Not that bad?Really?

Two Weeks Notice (Sometimes Four)

Two Weeks “Intro to Company”

Three Months Full Ramp-Up

Four Months Total?

Probably more like 6 Months.

@petecheslock

Constraints

@petecheslock

Didn’t Read the Books?

“An hour lost on the bottleneck is an hour lost on the entire system”

“An hour gained on a non-bottleneck is a mirage”

What happens if Brent quit?

Redundant Keymasters?

@petecheslock

http://cdn3.hark.com/images/000/659/522/659522/original.jpg

@petecheslock

System Shutdown

Projects Slow down

Days get longer

More Stress

More People Leave

http://www.dashe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/snowball_effect.png

@petecheslock

“Common sense is not so common.”

- Voltaire

@petecheslock

Money

http://x959fm.com/blogs/post/savery/2013/apr/15/bad-tattoo-day-pay/

@petecheslock

Money

“Everyone takes a paycut to be here”

Above market offer turns into a huge bump

You need to take money off the table

Monetary adjustments = short term fixes (at best)

STPR http://x959fm.com/blogs/post/savery/2013/apr/15/bad-tattoo-day-pay/

http://arnoldzwicky.s3.amazonaws.com/BizarroCarrotStick.gif

@petecheslock

Money

http://arnoldzwicky.s3.amazonaws.com/BizarroCarrotStick.gif

@petecheslock

What Drives Us?

Autonomy

Mastery

Purpose

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: Dan Pink

@petecheslock

I tell my daughter what to do, not my engineers

@petecheslock

But I Need Work Done?

Align work with an owner

Back off and let them work on it

Offer support as needed

Filter unnecessary distractions

@petecheslock

Mastery

Get better at something that matters

Continuous Learning

Skill Improvement

http://www.midwestusergroup.org/RubiksCube.JPG

@petecheslock

Purpose

"I want to write code that no one will ever use"

-Nobody, Ever.

Being a part of something greater

Fulfilling, important work that matters.

@petecheslock

Story Time

We had Nagios

Nagios annoyed my Devs

My Devs annoyed me

@petecheslock

http://www.menspsychology.com/blog/frustration-and-how-to-deal-with-it

Wild Idea Appears

“There is a better way to do this…I think”

One week for a POC

One month for an MVP

Replaced Nagios 2 weeks after

Opensource and Community

@petecheslock

@petecheslock

@petecheslock

Open Source Projects

Gives people ownership

Can make it easier to recruit later

Costs can be minimal

Benefits can be massive

@petecheslock

Unlimited Vacations

You have to have the culture to back it up

“Umm..You already have taken 3 weeks…”

@petecheslock

Unlimited Vacations

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18ixlb19u5z7njpg/ku-medium.jpg

It should not be a way to avoid burnout

@petecheslock

The Remotes

You want to scale, in this economy?

Talent > Location

A manager is responsible for the output of their team

It doesn’t (shouldn’t) matter where people are contributing from.

@petecheslock

The Remotes

You want to scale, in this economy?

Talent > Location

A manager is responsible for the output of their team

It doesn’t (shouldn’t) matter where people are contributing from.

@petecheslock

Conferences

They’re Important (In moderation)

Opportunity to see new technologies

Learn new and interesting solutions to problems

Build a Personal Network

@petecheslock

Unscheduled Time

http://www.georgeambler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/reflect.jpg

@petecheslock

Culture

Free Food/Snacks

PingPong Tables

Beer

@petecheslock

Culture

Free Food/Snacks

PingPong Tables

Beer

@petecheslock

High Levels of Trust Across the Organization

Personal Ownership and Responsibility

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lodph06Pd51qfcygro1_250.jpg

@petecheslock

Challenging Meaningful Work

Employee Ownership

High Levels of Trust

@petecheslock

Treat Them Like Adults

@petecheslock

@petecheslock

Thank You