Seek Nuance

My friend Kirk has run his dev team in a mostly Agile system. Code sprints, agreeing on tickets for the sprint, declaring victory at the end of the sprint, etc.

But now Kirk’s boss says:

I need you to commit to achieve certain goals by various dates over the next year. Once you agree to them, you need to commit to delivering them on time.

How is this situation silly? Let me count the ways…

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A friend, whom I’ll call “Kirk,” works in a startup. A really good developer, whom I’ll call “Amy,” reports to him.

Kirk lobbied his boss for a big raise for Amy. He thought about this the right way:

I’ve researched the current market rates for developers of Amy’s level and abilities. She’s very good, she’s worked hard for us, and I expect great things from her this year. The plan calls for raising her salary to $X, But I suggest we raise her salary to $(X + n) because that’s the going salary for someone like her in this area.

Kirk’s boss thought about it the wrong way:

A raise to $(X + n/2) would be better. It’ll be a large increase over her current salary.

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