Slides from Bridget Harris, CEO, YouCanBookMe's talk at Business of Software Conference 2017 on hiring the right people. For updates on future events and to be notified when the talks are published online: http://businessofsoftware.org/updates/

1. @bridgettoday
hello!

2. Who you hire will make the
single biggest difference to
your business.

3. who we hope we’re going to hire

4. who everyone assumes we hire

5. who we’re afraid we might hire

6. who we actually hire –yay!

7. How do you get the best
people work for you?

8. Culture
Processes
Product
Leadership

9. Your company is made up of
people who spend money
on building and selling
products and services

10. Can you get the
best people with
money alone?

11. Ten startups
that shut down
in 2017,
employed
hundreds of
people
Burned
through
$1.7bn in VC

12. $1,700,000,000

13. YOU
HAD
ONEJOB

14. the wrong people will
spend your money on the
wrong things

15. Things that
bear no
relation to
creating
profit in your
company
you
your
money
the wrong things

16. the right people
“We wanted people that were insanely great at what they
did - the neatest thing that happens is when you get a core
group of ten great people, it becomes self-policing as to
who they let into that group...

17. the right people
..so I consider the most important job, for
someone like myself, is recruiting.”

18. “I hired the wrong guy”

19. Who you hire will make the
single biggest difference to
your business.

20. had no money and no people
In 2010, YouCanBook.me

23. DIDN’T HIRE
FIRED
WENT
AWOL
TURNED DOWN OFFER
HANDED IN
NOTICE
NEVER FOLLOWED UP
DIDN’T APPLY
WRONG FOR
COMPANY CONTRACTOR POACHED

24. Why did some people never seem to get the
memo?

25. Create a confidence in
your culture that will
attract and retain the
best for your company

26. ● know thyself
● systems are your friend: culture
● systems are your friend: hiring

27. know thyself

29. Right! This is
what we
want to do
can I get
paid now?
When’s
lunch?

30. (we were the problem people once)

31. Create a company that you
want to work for, and aim to
hire people who want
similar outcomes as you

32. Then document it, describe, defend it,
and talk about it, share it, hire to it, fire
on the lack of it, judge people on it,
make decisions based on it.

33. who are we
policies and procedures
reviews

35. Where do people work?
How much do people get paid?
How do decisions get made?
How many hours do people work?
How does fun happen?
How are people rewarded?
How much do people know about
how the company spends money?
What are the priorities for work?
Can people speak freely?
Does the company allow
for exceptional time off?
If staff were unhappy, what would
they do?
Do you know what everyone thinks?
Does everyone know what you think?
Do people know what you stand for?
How often do people work together?
How do you handle crisis?
Do people feel safe?
How do you define
performance?
Where do you draw the line?
Are people in your company your
friends, colleagues, or a family?
When do you exclude?
How do you include everyone? How do you define
performance?
How do you define
performance?
Do you socialise as a team?
Do you know what everyone thinks?
Do people feel safe?
How much do people get paid?
What’s acceptable
humour?
Would people be able to clearly
articulate what the values of the
company are?
Would people be able to clearly
articulate what the values of the
company are?

36. Do you want to work here?

37. Or here?

38. Or here?

39. contractual agreements
daily task and activities
project management
line management
team interaction
salaries and benefits
hiring
policies and procedures
performance
Be able to
describe
every
stage

40. Money
accountancy
revenue recognition
VAT
NEXUS
EU Services Sales Tax
dunning
P&L
refunds
Credits recharging
corporation tax
local sales tax
balance sheet
management accounts
people
performance appraisal
professional development
training
policies and procedures
Grievances
Profit share
Salary rates
disciplinary
401k
health insurance
unpaid leave
unauthorized leave
sick leave
Non exempt federal workers
people and money

43. 3. Give some brief examples of how you’ve
demonstrated YCBM’s values over the past
year.
If you think there are any particular areas
here where you could improve, make a
note of these too.
Annual appraisals

44. Annual

45. Quarterly 1-1s

46. This is the most
open company
I’ve ever worked
for.
I have never worked somewhere before where
it so clear what the values of the company are.
In my past jobs, I had seen things that made
me feel uncomfortable, but I didn’t feel
confident enough speak up - now I would.

47. Congratulations! You
may now begin hiring.

48. The biggest obstacle you have to
face in hiring the best talent….

50. You
want
that
hire so
bad…

51. And you
want to
make a
decision

52. NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO
NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

53. Tolerance & respect
Find and share the
solution
Confidence in
transparency
Simple is beautiful
Curiosity & optimism
Commitment to
excellence
You need to hire (and
fire) based on your
stated values

54. On shortlisting candidates create anonymized
questionnaires (track and score responses)
Allow every interviewer to offer a ‘fresh pair of eyes’
on the candidate
Avoid the momentum you’ve built up for yes

55. Ready to make
an offer?

57. Send the referees the anonymised survey,
collect quantitative responses
Create a questionnaire scoring
them 1-10
Before any offer, as candidate for at least 5
emails from previous colleagues / managers
Look for discrepancies, follow up
with both candidate and referee
Use words, questions and
scenarios based on your values

58. Tolerance & respect
Find and share the
solution
Confidence in
transparency
Simple is beautiful
Curiosity & optimism
Commitment to
excellence

60. “Not a fit”

61. Figure out what tribe you’re in

63. hey, know
any good
developers?
sure, I’ll go
ask around
all my green
friends...
me too..

64. Figure out what tribe you’re in

65. …..and get out of it

75. I’m just going to
code my way out of it

76. Trying to hire a rockstar developer?

77. STATUS QUO
THEY LITERALLY CALLED THEMSELVES

78. Organisations listed and supported by The Linux Foundation

81. People and money determines what you do

82. “We are on a mission to...
...redefine the cup of tea...give everyone better gloves...See. Smarter....change what fish do...talk more. By listening more....open and close every door.

83. Mission statements are bulls**t

84. Nobody cares what you say

85. People care about what you do

86. People and money determines what you do

87. People and money determines your culture

88. Culture determines who you hire

89. Your Business Strategy:Culture eats Hiring for Breakfast

90. @bridgettoday