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371 points greggyb | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.714s | source
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FuriouslyAdrift ◴[] No.41983561[source]
Everyone forgetting about Lisa Brummel and "stack ranking"?

That nearly ruined Microsoft...

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft-ditches-syst...

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fsckboy ◴[] No.41983931[source]
"grading on a curve" is a good idea, and if athletics wasn't run that way, nobody would watch.

that doesn't mean it's easy to implement, manage, or impossible to game, or that it plays nice wrt human factors, but to attack the core idea as essentially wrong is anti math, science, and rationality.

Microsoft always suffered from rewarding egotists and political animals over people who did actual work.

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lesuorac ◴[] No.41984436[source]
Athletics is an actual competition where the expectation is that "you win".

When you hire 12 baristas are they competing to make the most coffees or is their job to handle customer's orders? If their job isn't to compete with each other then don't stack rank them. Use other metrics like #of incorrect orders or w/e and decide what you think they should've done and if they did more than that give them a bonus. If they do less then maybe you need a new employee.

> Microsoft always suffered from rewarding egotists and political animals over people who did actual work.

That has nothing to do with grading on a curve. You can assign people to the top of a curve based on "egotist" criteria or based on "work". Nothing about a curve or stack ranking requires it to be based on "real work".

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randomdata ◴[] No.41985489[source]
> When you hire 12 baristas are they competing to make the most coffees or is their job to handle customer's orders?

Both? Handling customer orders is how the sport is played, but at the same time they are competing for the most points (money) in that gameplay.

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lesuorac ◴[] No.41986418[source]
So, all your baristas working a graveyard shift are going to be at the bottom of the stack ranking in terms of revenue/time. What do you now do?
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randomdata ◴[] No.41986571[source]
What do you do in athletics? Do you tell the kids (graveyard shift) they aren't allowed to participate in sports anymore because they can't compete with the big leagues (peak hours)?

Probably not. More likely you would look at the different leagues individually. I'm surprised this idea is novel to you.

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krisoft ◴[] No.41986847[source]
> What do you do in athletics?

Why do you talk about athletics? Baristas are not athletes. Coffee shops are not the olympics. You are stretching this analogy beyond its usefullness.

> I'm surprised this idea is novel to you.

Could you possibly express your thoughts without putting down others? Thank you.

To address the meat of your comment. It sounds like you are proposing to grade the baristas working the bad shifts and the good shifts separately in different "leagues". The problem with that is that assumes that you are aware of all the factors which form the different leagues. If there are clear "night time" vs "daytime" barista groups that works. but if you just assign baristas as scheduling works out then you will realise that some people (randomly, and through no fault of their own) will be assigned to the slower shifts. Will you fire a perfectly good barista who is meeting the expectations of your establishment just because scheduling worked against them in that evaluation period? That is what stack ranking did in the case of microsoft.

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randomdata ◴[] No.41986904[source]
> Why do you talk about athletics?

Because that's what the discussion is about...? Did you forget to read the thread?

> Could you possibly express your thoughts without putting down others?

If words shown on a computer screen are putting you down, it's time to go outside. You've lost your sense of reality.

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krisoft ◴[] No.41987655[source]
> Because that's what the discussion is about...?

The thread seems to be about how one would manage baristas. It spawned off where lesuorac pointed out that baristas working for a coffe shop are different from athletes in that they are not competing with each other.

> Did you forget to read the thread?

> You've lost your sense of reality.

I guess that’s a no then. I hope you have a good day.

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randomdata ◴[] No.41987813[source]
> The thread seems to be about how one would manage baristas.

What gives you that impression? It isn't not about baristas, but namely about a parallel between baristas and athletics. That was the context that was setup at the head of this particular thread branch, and we haven't change the subject (aside from that irrational attempt related to being "put down", whatever that was).

> I guess that’s a no then.

Correct. There is no logical place for pointless emotions here. Save it for human interactions.

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1. krisoft ◴[] No.41992702[source]
> It isn't not about baristas, but namely about a parallel between baristas and athletics.

And what is the paralel? That is what i was asking and that is what you are dodging to answer. Why do you feel that the management of baristas can be usefully inspired by lessons from the management of athletes?

> Save it for human interactions.

Thank you for your candor. It is good to know that you don’t characterise our conversation as a human interaction. Puts it into perspective, and explains a lot.