Better Software - December 2007 - (Page 16)

Management Chronicles The Full Meal Deal by Patrick Bailey Tom Markum dropped the sack of warm breakfast sandwiches on his desk, hit the on-button to his coffee maker, unpacked his laptop, and within minutes was chomping on another greasy, fast-food morning meal while eyeballing emails through his puffy peepers. It was 6:00 a.m., the start of another fourteen-hour day with meals at his desk between meetings and diagnosing the many maintenance issues that would come his way. Tom was feeling the strain of recruitment challenges. His first three months as the IT director at Mako-Mako had been challenging, but also what he had wanted —an opportunity to run his own shop with developers who enjoy their jobs. Although he currently was the manager, developer, DBA, and general support, he had the full support of upper management to hire three entry- to mid-level people—and at competitive salaries, to boot. “What’s taking so long?” he thought to himself. “I’m supposed to be a manager, not the number-one doer. Where are the candidates for those job postings?” Three months ago, after his initial meeting with Kathy in human resources, he had been certain that candidates would become available soon. However, he had often heard from his past managers about the obstacles human resource people threw in front of recruiting efforts, so he made it simple for Kathy by providing her a description of what he needed. He thought the technologies he listed sounded far sexier than the blurb Kathy recommended based on the standard job descriptions. It took a little arm twisting, but Kathy eventually acquiesced. Tom thought HR must be doing something to hold things up. It’s probably that old game where some clerk (or some software of all things!) was rejecting anyone and everyone who didn’t exactly match what was advertised. As 16 he took one more determined bite of his hot biscuit and moved to punch the speeddial button to human resources, his phone rang. With his coffee in one hand, he managed to hold his halfeaten sandwich and the receiver in the other. “Tom here,” he said. “Tom, how are you doing? It’s Kathy from HR.” “This is a surprise! I was just about to call you. It’s been more than three months. What’s happening with those ” “Recruits?” Kathy said before Tom could complete his sentence through a mouth full of cheese, ham, and sourdough. “We’ve got you covered!” “Covered? What do you mean covered?” “I mean exactly that. We have your people.” As good as that sounded, Tom found it difficult to believe. This must be another HR control tactic. “No way!” “Yes way!” Kathy said. “All three of them are here waiting for you to interview.” “Why didn’t I see their résumés first?” “Sorry about that, Tom. We tried to call you yesterday when their letters arrived. We knew you were anxious, so we thought we’d take a chance and ask them to come in early to meet with you before things got busy.” Tom looked at his watch. “They must really want the job to be here by 6:07.” “We explained your situation to them, and they were ready to accommodate you.” “This is hard to believe.” Tom shook his head in disbelief. This early? These people must be desperate, but why complain, he thought. I should be happy at least to talk to some candidates. “OK, obviously I’ll talk to them. I’ll www.StickyMinds.com meet them in your conference room.” When Tom entered the human resources conference room, he was pleasantly surprised. All three candidates looked alert and professional. After Tom was introduced to Andrew, Kirsten, and Matt, he began the interview. “Well, I can tell you that I’m very anxious to hire, and I appreciate your flexibility by coming in at this hour.” All of them gave Tom reassuring smiles. “So, to start, which of you are applying for the software development jobs and which are applying to be the system administrator?” In an almost synchronized fashion, all three applicants said they were applying for any of the positions. “Well that certainly gives me choices, but let’s talk about qualifications. Very few people can do all three jobs well,” Tom said. He went through the skills he had provided for the job posting that had appeared in the newspapers. They included a strong knowledge of C, C++, Java, C# (an absolute must), VB .NET, UML, client-server experience, RDBMS, SQL, IBM MQ Series, Eclipse, XML, EDI, UNIX system administration, data modeling, and test design. “Mr. Markum,” Andrew said unfazed, “all three of us meet those qualifications.” Each proved Andrew correct by briefing Tom about their backgrounds and providing details that only experience would reflect. “I need to pinch myself,” Tom said. BETTER SOFTWARE DECEMBER 2007 ISTOCKPHOTO http://www.StickyMinds.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Better Software - December 2007

Better Software - December 2007 Contents Mark Your Calendar What's Happening @ StickyMinds.com Technically Speaking Code Craft Test Connection Management Chronicles Man and Machine Let Your Values be Your Guide A Story About User Stories and Test-driven Development Product Announcements The Last Word Ad Index

Better Software - December 2007

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