Topgrading
by Bradford D. Smart · first published 2012
15mentions
7recommended by
14HN commenters
2009–2025first – last mentioned
50% recommend36% neutral14% critical
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…#2 requires a mix of (i) reference interviews, and (ii) digging into details during candidate interviews. Read these books to learn how: * Who: https://www.amazon.com/Who-Geoff-Smart/dp/0345504194 * Topgrading: https://www.amazon.com/Topgrading-3rd-Promoting-Turbocharges...
on “Getting to the Product Manager interview stage” ↗For what it's worth, this was common practice in tech in 1999. It's called Topgrading; it was started by Welch at GE. You can read all about it at http://www.amazon.com/Topgrading-Leading-Companies-Coaching-...
on “Microsoft employee on stack ranking and its 'most universally hated exec'” ↗…I'm in agreement. If he means a 30-60 minute interview [[by each person that will be working with the candidate]] then we're in agreement, if he means in total no way. Anyone doing hiring should read Topgrading ( http://www.topgrading.com/index.cfm ) and even if you choose to not follow the full format you should be making conscious choices to do something different with good reasons behind it.
on “Paul English of Kayak on Hiring, Venture Capital, Time Management, NDA's, etc. ” ↗Look for a book called Topgrading, it's a methodology and defines A,B and C players. Roughly from memory: A's are smart, get things done. The important thing is: An A player in one role may not be an A player in another role. If you…
on “Steve Jobs on Average vs Best Software Developers” ↗There are ways to do biographical interviews which DO produce worthwhile results. Topgrading has examples of how to do this, and Aaron Patzer (the Mint guy) spoke about it -- basically you go through someone's resume and job/life history and ask why they made decisions at each step, which exposes…
on “The Talented Ms. Hornstein: How Shirls Fooled The Valley” ↗…informally interview 2-3 people a month. Incidentally, this builds-up an amazing network of true contacts, which is to say NOT Linkedin contacts. The best primer on this process is Bradford Smart's Topgrading > http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/915182.Topgrading > then selling this service if I am capable? Connecting with buyers, in this case Hiring Executives falls into the specialty function of Sales…
on “Ask HN: I think I'm good at quickly identifying dev talent. How to prove it?” ↗…website/web app for a while but didn’t get enough value out of it. We had a hiring consultant / coach teach us about top grading after going through many other books. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/915182.Topgrading Is the best book on it. I would just say to use common sense when reading it and think about how you would feel in the interviewees shoes. There is also top grading for sales which has some good stuff…
on “The dystopian world of software engineering interviews” ↗It appears to be a reductive staffing methodology invented by this book: http://www.amazon.com/Topgrading-Leading-Companies-Coaching-... The key points: - Hire people who are awesome - Fire people who aren't
on “We Rejected Dan Shipper (And What I Learned About Hiring)” ↗See Topgrading[1]: "Simply put, topgrading is the practice of packing the team with A players and clearing out the C players," Smart writes. "'A players' is defined as the top 10 percent of talent available at all…
on “Netflix: Culture of Fear” ↗I read the book Topgrading a few years back, defined A-player relative to the position: "An ‘A’ player as defined by Topgraders is one who qualifies among the top 10% of talent for the compensation available for a position (any…
on “There are no B players” ↗Here's the secret: there is no secret ("There is no spoon, Neo.") GE's hiring practices, although touted quite a lot in Topgrading (which was recommended to me by Mint.com's CEO), may not necessarily work in your case. But the underlying principle of "hire the smartest people" is a theme throughout the book that ties into a bunch…
on “The secrets of really, really lucky companies” ↗…pattern match vary, but include things like work that is well known, educational and professional pedigree, strong references from long trusted sources in industry, peer reputation, etc. I've read the book Topgrading, which gives a definition of 'an A-player is someone in the top 10 percent of talent available at all salary levels for a well defined organizational role'. I've perceived that many modern engineering…
on “Whom Should You Hire at a Startup? (Attitude over Aptitude)” ↗there's a strain of management books called "Topgrading". The gist is: you, the new founder, are grade A awesome, and you can have a successful company if you only hire other As. Unfortunately, Bs and Cs will show up, and lie about their work history! So…
on “Entrepreneur First Thinks It Can Grab The Talent Long Before YC” ↗Good points. In the 3rd edition of Topgrading I offer definitions of A, B, C across many competencies, but early in the book I say that the simplest way to think of A, B, C Players is high performer, adequate, low performer. I've asked 6,500 executives…
on “There are no B players” ↗…books hyperfocus on one or a few simplified "rules" (hell, Ray Dalio's book is literally called "Principles") and ignore any messy complications or cofactors. If you really want a laugh, read Smart's "Topgrading" which spends an entire half a book telling you that later chapters are going to really improve your hiring process, and the second half of the book repeating some simple rules without bothering to defend…
on “Business books are entertainment, not strategic tools” ↗