Peter's Principle applied to software start ups
Software companies founded by hackers quite naturally have a culture deeply rooted in technology and software development genius. So far, so good.
The founder in most times is an excellent software developer with a sound business acumen – or (s)he wouldn’t have found a start up. But since the culture of the company values technical abilities, the employees most likely to be called in managerial functions will tend to be the very best software developers.
However, these excellent hackers don’t necessarily have what it takes to manage a team. I can’t avoid to bring a cliché on the table here: it happens that geeks spending days in front of a monitor are quite introverted.
As a result, some of these top programmers will reach their level of incompetency: second to none when it comes to writing smart code, top software developers aren’t necessarily good managers (although there are countless counter examples). Consequently, frustrated with not having time to hack code (what they’re best at) anymore while reviewing code and getting their people organized, or constraining their teams with their tendency to intervene directly on their code at night, many software start ups loose some of their best assets during their growth phase. It goes without saying that every top developer leaving to the competition jeopardizes their innovation capabilities.
To avoid this epitome of Peter’s Principle, I guess software start ups should 2 different people development paths: the managerial scheme, and the technological expertise scheme. IBM had initiated the move with their distinguished engineers program, soon followed by Microsoft and many other top technology companies – but my call is that it was too late already. IBM & Microsoft had lost many talents growing into big companies. In my humble opinion, start up founders should start thinking on how to empower their people to become crème-de-la-crème in their field of interest from Day 1.
Recruiting, developing and retaining top technical talents is crucial to the success of fast growing start ups. Software development talent should be empowered with the appropriate ladders to advance in their career without having to move into management.
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very interesting points though indeed the cliche about hackers.
I however think that you have neglected one point in your analysis. I will have dwelled upon creating a different corporate culture before directly looking at an operational scheme. the main issue with these new start up by hackers as you pointed out is the empowerment of pure intelligence.
The underlyng problem is that there is no clear message to tie up all these brilliant minds besides reaching excellency.
I have little knowledge but I really have the impression that corporate cultures are quie similar to one another among start ups in the US, that there are little differentiation factors…
Hey Raphaël,
I acknowledge part of your comment: the need to create such a culture promoting technical excellence for technical people & managerial excellence for people people as you point out.
However, I REFUSE to believe that start ups rest on similar corporate cultures in the US. Each organization has a very special DNA of its own – to be found usually in the history of its creation and the personal stories of their founders.