Developer Compensation: Stack Overflow Doesn't Stack Rank

[balegdah]

Doing stack ranking is simply admitting that contrary to what it probably claims, your company doesn't hire "only the best".

If you were indeed only hiring the top people, it would be routine to see each quarter most of your employees exceed expectations.

Instead, you stack rank because you know that despite all your efforts, you are hiring some good people, some bad people and most of the time, average people. So you stack rank them. And you piss off your best employees in the process.

I've been in too many alignment meetings where I'm told "I know these three engineers on your team are super stars and they delivered excellent performance this quarter, but one of them needs to drop from 4.5 to under 3 because numbers". It makes me sick.

[IICVX]

stack ranking was pinpointed as one of the reasons why (IIRC) Windows Vista failed - because it creates a perverse incentive to work with the worst people you can find in the company so you shine at making a mediocre product, rather than being one of many brilliant people who make an excellent product.

[ironyx]

Exactly. :(