Programmer Musings

Review of Smart & Gets Things Done

Smart & Gets Things Done
Joel Spolsky
Apress, 2007

This book represents Joel Spolsky's approach to hiring programmers. Smart & Gets Things Done is based on Spolsky's weblog, like his previous book, Joel on Software. In this book, Joel brings together his various writings on hiring software developers. Not surprisingly, Joel bucks traditional wisdom on the subject by stating that you should be hiring only the best and ignoring all of the rest.

Now, many companies will publicly agree that you should always hire the best. They may even post slogans or motivational posters saying that We only hire the best. Joel takes a different approach. He honestly suggests that if you can't find the best, you are better off continuing to search than to hire someone who is less than the best. Although he doesn't say it explicitly, the text does hint at the fact that the best for his company may not be the best for your company. However, he does pretty much ignore the whole do they have the right keywords approach to hiring.

Joel mostly focuses on his view of what the best looks like, how to convince them to work at his company, and how to keep them once they are in the door. A lot of what he says will look wonderful to most software developers. I suspect that many hiring managers and human resources people will hate his advice. As someone who develops software for a living and who has been part of the hiring process with a handful of companies (large and small), I think Joel's ideas have some merit. I'm not sure I can agree wholeheartedly with everything he says in the book. Amusingly enough, I think the spots where I disagree are probably very different from where a manager or HR person would disagree.

All in all, the book is a quick read. Joel's writing style is always clear and readable. He brings up a number of interesting points, not all of which are on his weblog. In fact, it was a pleasant surprise to find that this was not just a re-edited version of articles from Joel's weblog. There is actually a bit of new material in there as well. Even without the new material, the book form may be easier to digest than getting this material from half a dozen scattered essays.

If you are involved in any way in hiring software development staff, you probably want to read this book. If you are looking for a job, this book might give you something to keep in mind while considering company offers. My only real complaint about the book was the fact that most of the material is already available on Joel's site, and I consider that to be a minor issue.