Why Do You Want Hybrid Employees? - bpisolutions.com

Why Do You Want Hybrid Employees?

Why? “What” is the first question you are probably asking yourself? I first saw the term
hybrid used by Molly Holzschalg (Web Techniques Nov 2001) to refer to those people
capable of bridging the gap between development and designer. I believe a hybrid
employee is much more. They are a generalist and a specialist rolled up into one. A
generalist tends to be someone who knows quite a few technologies and/or life cycle
phases but only at an average or casual level. A specialist knows only a few of these
areas but at an expert level. A hybrid is one who knows about a great many things and
many of those at an advanced level.

Hybrids may not be the best interface designer or the best Perl programmer you’ve ever
seen, but they will be one of your top analyzers, designers, implementers, Java, HTML,
and system administrators on your team all in one headcount. Although part of your
battle is locating these individuals, the bigger problem is figuring out what to do with
them once you have them. How to save money and impress all those around you won’t
be a concern.

What Good is a Hybrid?

A hybrid is the best single toy under the Christmas tree. Instead of getting a hammer, a
set of pliers, a screwdriver, a drill, and an assortment of other tools in individual
packages, the hybrid is the all-in-one tool. Imagine. Instead of having a wall full of
individual tools that you must constantly struggle to organize, find, and maintain, you
could have a single tool capable of doing all your jobs. Nothing may beat the deluxe T-
382 hammer on the wall for driving nails into concrete, but your hybrid can drive nails
into any material. Instead of paying sums of money for each specialized tool on your
wall you can pay only one large sum of money (if you are smart) for your super-duper
tool. But wait, there’s more! Have you ever been able to find every tool you’ve ever
gone looking for? No! But if you had one, or a few, all-in-one tools, instead of literally
hundreds of individual tools, you’d likely be able to keep track of it much better.

But if you call now, I’ll also throw in communication savings as well. Forget having to
find the right-sized bolt, to go with the proper ratchet set that will actually work with
your cordless drill that needs the long battery and not the short one. Your all-in-one tool
knows it’s needs because it is all there. You don’t need a meeting, taking time from the
actual task, to let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. There’s only one brain
in between the two! What a concept.

And did I mention reduced-cost future enhancements? Hybrids almost always tend to be
self-learners. It isn’t that they don’t like a good training class, but since a hybrid doesn’t
focus on a very small and specific area, they tend to get bored quickly in lengthy classes.
A hybrid is much more likely to enjoy a one-day overview course about a new
technology or design method. Just enough to point them in the right direction thank you.
Classes by design are focused and detailed whereas the hybrid is thinking about how this
new skill fits in with the dozen projects on their plate.

Finding a Hybrid

Hybrids aren’t sold in stores and are in limited supply. If you are intentionally looking
for hybrids, expect it to take some time. Every resume on the market gives the
impression of a hybrid skill set. Most resumes proudly claim their owners to have been
involved in every phase of several projects where they programmed in all languages
currently on the market. A good five-minute interview is all it takes to eliminate 98% of
these individuals: “I was actually a part of a team that had that entire responsibility. I
was focused on these five functions out of the ten thousand in the product.”

Patience is the key. You can’t go on a mission to fill a hybrid position within a few
weeks or within a set of a dozen resumes. It won’t do to find someone who is nearly
there or who might be. You must be absolutely sure you have found a hybrid before
hiring them or you will fail. For most positions you are looking for one or two specific
skills. Just as you would tailor your interview towards those skills, the hybrid interview
should be the same. A combination of very specific questions regarding skills,
relationships, and their ability to work on their own should be asked. Don’t expect the
hybrid to get every question right. It’s more a matter of how they answer sometimes.

For instance, instead of asking what function you would call in C++ to solve world
hunger, instead give them a word problem. Present them with a general problem and ask
them to solve it in any manner. A hybrid should be able to walk you through a rapid
process flow that results in a completed product. They’ll likely thrown in what
language(s) they’d recommend, along with a preferred operating system and perhaps
some resources they might need. Instead of telling you details, the hybrid will give you
an overview of the entire task—and tell you they can complete it. A project manager
could tell you the flow but wouldn’t be able to compile a “Hello World” program. And a
skilled developer might be able to tell you the library calls they’ll need but not be able to
design the overall flow of the project.

On the flip side, a person who knows they are hybrid (even if they haven’t heard of the
term) has probably heard over and over how that if they take this job they will have full
responsibility to do whatever it takes to get the job done without the headaches of process
and paperwork. Reality sets in usually within the first week or two of the job when they
begin attending daily meetings that have no bearing on the tasks they would prefer to
work on.

Hybrid Organization Life Cycle

IT organizations generally frown on the hybrid approach to application management.
Processes are designed to segment the work to groups that specialize in their particular
area. Group A does their tasks and throws the product over the wall to group B. Having
someone that can do both groups’ work, without the overhead of meetings, minutes of
meetings, status reports, and miscommunication just won’t do. That would reduce
headcount and the size of their empire and importance.

Occasionally a manager will consciously decide they want to create a group containing
strictly hybrid employees. This usually occurs after many frustrated attempts to complete
projects on time and on budget have failed. The manager has analyzed the situation and
found the process itself to be at fault. Since changing the process would take years of
study and likely create additional processes, the manager looks for other alternatives. If
only the manager could get a handful of people to just “do it” they could make the
customer extremely happy and save the company a bucket full of money.

If the manager successfully gets a few hybrids under their wing the next step is to find
some work. This usually isn’t difficult since in most IT organizations the process is
designed to throw out more projects than are completed. Start small, but find those
projects that could be completed, literally, before anyone noticed. Can bending some
rules but not trampling on someone’s turf implement them? In today’s world web
applications are usually the easiest to implement without the assistance of dozens of other
groups. An old PC running can provide fairly advanced web hosting capabilities without
any budget. Let your hybrids talk to the end customer for the project and be ready for a
fabulous ride.

Yes, you read that last line right—let the hybrids talk to the end customer. Turns out
most hybrids are very good communicators. I have no theory on this, but I’ve yet to meet
someone who can churn out a project from start to finish that couldn’t actual produce
what the customer wanted because they talked with them. Of course, the customer won’t
understand this new process and may need some comforting from the manager. “Right
before we went to production I mentioned what I really wanted and it was done! Why
can’t the rest of your organization run like this?”

The manager of a hybrid organization must work differently than normal IT managers.
Where most IT managers are playing traffic cop with budgets, requests, customers, and
peers, the hybrid manager is more of a militant protecting his troops. Every minute a
hybrid is stuck in a staff meeting, or explaining their project to another team for
“informational purposes”, is time they are not doing what they are paid to do. The
manager isn’t getting what they are paying for and worse yet, the hybrid may find it a
waste of time as well. The manager must run cover for their team, handling run of the
mill meetings, protecting the team from “the process people,” and basically letting them
do their job.

As time progresses and mid-management sees results, there will be some light acceptance
of the team in the form of additional monies to get more hybrids. Along with that comes
more and more projects that have fallen by the wayside of the IT process or that need to
be done quickly and correctly. Life will be good for another few months until one of two
things happens. Either the team will grow to a point where it is too big or upper
management will come in to say “good job, now do it our way.” Whichever occurs, the
essence of the team and the reason it worked is now short-lived. If the team is too big,
the manager will no longer be able to provide cover and the employees will find
themselves spending more time doing management tasks and/or supervising other team

members. If the IT process begins to infiltrate the team, the hybrids will be assigned to
do only specific tasks and will thus quickly lose interest.

It is very rare indeed to find a hybrid organization (they are usually named something like
“skunk works” or “black operations” or “that group we don’t talk about”) that lasts for
more than three years within a corporate IT structure. As anyone knows you can fight
and win many small battles against the process but the process always wins the war.

So How Do We Keep The Hybrids?

If it is almost inevitable that the organization that attracted the hybrids will eventually
collapse under it’s own weight or the weight of the IT process surrounding it, how do you
keep your hybrid employees happy and productive? I recommend the duck and run
method. As the current organization begins to crumble, set up shop somewhere else. The
manager might find another division wanting to see similar results, or perhaps, sadly,
maybe at a different company. If a manager was successful at fostering an environment
that allowed the hybrid employees the ability to grow and showcase their talents, they
will likely be fairly loyal to the manager. If the manager can locate another area where
the same success can occur, loyal followers will soon be around.

Although money or other motivators might keep a hybrid employee at a particular
location, is it worth it? If the organization and process do not allow the hybrid to handle
most if not all phases of a project, you could be wasting your time. You can fit a hybrid
employee into a standard job, but the results will be a standard result. A hybrid employee
flourishes only when allowed to do all they are capable of. If you can keep them busy,
active, and happy with their responsibilities, you will enjoy the benefits of these unique
employees.

© 2001 Business Partners, Inc. http://www.bpisolutions.com/