Evaluating Team Players
Here is a sample rubric for evaluating candidates against the 3 attributes of a team player Inspired by Humble, Hungry, and Smart from The Ideal Team Player
:
- Humble (i.e. growth mindset and willing to sacrifice for group)
- Hungry (i.e. growth mindset and intrinsically motivated to succeed)
- High EQ (i.e. empathy with others)
growth mindset
Humble
Bad:
- Does not mention efforts of others in their work (“I did”)
- Does not seek help from others when blocked
- Cannot talk about personal growth areas
- In times of difficulty, works by themself
Meh
- History of collaborative work but fails to acknowledge others
- Aware of areas of personal growth but not working toward them
- Admits when they don’t know
- Wants the team to succeed but can’t articulate how they’ve helped others
Good (growth mindset and willing to sacrifice for group)
- Seeks to learn from others
- Asks for help
- Demonstrates growth mindset
- Accepts and appreciates peer feedback
- Working towards areas of personal growth
- Willing to work on long-term and time-consuming problems
- Credit for work is shared with the team (“we did”)
- Demonstrated initiative in helping empower others to help the team succeed
Hungry
Bad:
- Burned out or disengaged
- Shies away from challenges
- Unable to communicate enthusiasm for a specific project
- Little awareness of how their work affects the larger organization
Meh
- May have problems knowing where to start on new problems
- Has a technical interest area but is not actively participating
- Understand how their work supports the organization
Good (growth mindset and intrinsically motivated to succeed)
- Communicates a love of learning
- History of successful completion of projects
- Actively pursuing a technical interest area
- Understands clearly why they want to work at this job
- Seeks out higher impact work
- Sets priorities and sticks to them
High EQ
Bad
- Frequently in the middle of conflicts
- Does not demonstrate understanding of other points of view
- Says that other people “didn’t understand”
Meh
- Avoids conflicts but doesn’t resolve them
- Is friendly with their teammates
Good (empathy with others)
- Successfully negotiated conflicts
- Pays attention to the “human” side of software engineering, e.g. graceful code review
- Understands value of bringing together diverse perspectives
- Offers non-judgement feedback about peers
- Thinks about customer experience