[jacobian.org] jacobian.org newsletter: exit interviews are a trap
Hello, Jacob here. Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter.
My posts
I spent some time writing recently about exit interviews:
📝 Exit Interviews Are a Trap
It’s tempting to air your grievances at your exit interview. Don’t. There’s almost no upside to speaking up, and tremendous potential downside. Avoid exit interviews if you can. If you must go, be totally bland; say nothing negative. Read more…
📝 Your last one-on-one: what to do instead of an exit interview
Say you agree with me that exit interviews are dangerous for employees, but you’re a kind, empathetic manager who’s built a team with high trust. You’d never dream of retaliation, are open to feedback – even if it’s harsh. You don’t want to put your departing direct in an uncomfortable or threatening position, but you’d like to know what they have to say! What then? Read more…
📝 Is my advice too mercenary?
After writing my piece on exit interviews (above), several folks critized that advice for being too “mercenary”. Some see my advice as coldly calculating, too focused on individual outcomes over collective ones, and implicitly distrustful of others. I think this is fair criticism! It’s not exactly what I’m going for, but it’s a fair reading. However, there’s more to it than that, I want to address it (and defend myself, just a little bit). Read more…
Elsewhere…
🔗 Story Points Revisited — Feeling pretty vindicated about my feeling that study points are bullshit: the dude who invented them agrees.
🔗 Jade Rubick - What do great engineering managers need to know about compensation and equity? — a really fantastic crash course in pay systems.