How I built Kismet, a small web app to connect Hacker News users.

Get along better and raise quality

Finally get going

Speed, adaptability, and imperfection

Shared values are more important than technical skill.

The cheapest retention tactic there is

It's more complicated than just hiring someone.

Neither is better, just different.

Quantifying uncertainty, for beginners. Includes a handy spreadsheet to get you started!

Pay is important, but not everything

Spoiler: it's not usually BS.

5 minutes could save you a bad hire.

You'll thank yourself and your team will be better for it.

Unfortunately, asking a developer for information is often like inquiring about a teenager's day at school.

Focus on the soft skills and start small.

It has consequences that cost you money and put your business at risk.

Trust and proof are everything.

They have a lot of options. Why should they choose you?

Busy leaders need to save time. Unfortunately, this often this leads managers to simply give orders rather than collaboratively working to a conclusion.

You already know that compensation should be market rate. Treat them like humans, help them grow professionally, evaluate them fairly, and you'll save money and ship a better product more quickly.

Software development time estimates are notoriously difficult to get right. In fact, it's probably impossible to get 100% accurate estimates, but that doesn't mean your team shouldn't try! Just like everything else your team does, you should continuously improve and iterate your time estimate methods. With that in mind, let's dive in to a few easy places for improvement.

Before you do anything else: take a step back and ask yourself why you want to hire a developer in the first place. Is someone quitting? Do you want to build a new feature? Is your team too slow?

Building a business is difficult. Building software is complicated and confusing. It's no wonder, then, that building a software business is like fighting with both hands tied behind your back. You have to spend a fortune to pay other people to fight and rather than fighting it feels like they stand around talking about fighting, doing a bunch of things that aren't fighting, and eventually come back to you with a list of reasons they can't fight right now.