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Summary
DHH draws a sharp distinction between two categories of new-hire failure: engagement problems (fixable with clear feedback) and core competency problems (not fixable in any reasonable timeframe). The article argues that managers who attempt to feedback their way through a competency gap are wasting both their own and the employee’s time, and that the right response to competency failure is a quick, respectful end to the relationship.
DHH 明確區分新進員工的兩類問題：參與問題（可透過明確回饋解決）和核心能力問題（在合理時間內無法解決）。文章認為，試圖用回饋克服能力差距的管理者是在浪費雙方時間，面對能力問題的正確做法是快速、尊重地結束合作關係。
Key Points
- Engagement problems (communication style, collaboration approach) can be fixed with direct feedback
- Core competency problems (technical skill gaps) cannot be resolved in months when skills took years to develop
- The exception: someone hired at the wrong seniority level who actually has the skills for a lower level
- Performance plans for competency failures are theatre — bureaucratic motions to create a paper trail
- Better to hire people at a level where they can exceed expectations, then promote, than to reach for a level above their skills
Insights
The hiring corollary is underappreciated: the real damage happens at the hiring stage, not the firing stage. Hiring someone above their competency level creates a situation that almost always ends badly, while hiring below creates a win-win where the person can demonstrate value and grow. The framing of performance plans as “the pit where good intentions go to die” is blunt but accurate for competency (vs. engagement) cases.
Connections
Raw Excerpt
If a programmer or a designer or a writer spent the last four-five-six years of their career getting their skills to where they are now, it’s delusional to think that they can lift them to an entirely new level in just a month or two or even six just because you asked them firmly.