The first step is to be aware of what talents you require. In my previous post I had identified talents I wanted for the programming tools business unit. I had also mentioned what was expected of specific talents. The way I did it was to work from the process practices that we needed to adopt. (I shall post these practices in a later post.). The process practices were in turn based on our business reality. What was our business reality? It was defined by:
- Programming tools have a long life. These required to be maintained over many generations of developers. In the tools BU Maintenance is Renovation.
- Optimizing compilers are complex. Complexity leads to difficulty in maintaining them.
- Turnover of personnel.
To identify talents at the entry level it helps to have an internship program. The longer the internship, the better the chances of determining if the required talents are present. MCA programs require a final semester of industrial experience. That is a very good opportunity to check for the talents I have listed in the earlier post.
The normal interview process does not have enough time for determining talents. However, for companies that can afford them, hiring qualified psychologists as consultants to test for the required talents, could be an option.
In either case it is absolutely important for managers to continually monitor the performance of all their team members. They must see that required talents are indeed being displayed. If any previously unspotted talent is noticed, it must be discussed with the person. All should be provided feedback. I believe in highlighting both desirable and undesirable behaviour to the whole team. And as close to the episode as possible. That way everyone learns what is the expected behaviour.
Most importantly, the annual (at acmet it was bi-annual) assessment must be designed to evaluate the behaviours which are evidence of the desired talents. At acmet our assessment forms did that.
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