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I read this not a general purpose guide to hiring and firing, but as a guide to hiring and firing _executives_. This is consistent with the author's background. Note references to board approval, walking over to someone's office, generous settlement packages, etc.

In this context the advice rings true to my ear. Less so for hiring and firing across all levels of an organization.

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It's sad that there's this (reasonable, in many cases) assumption here that you have to be an executive to get treated decently (office instead of shitty cube or open-plan space, career support and severance upon termination).

I mean, I wouldn't advocate a generous severance for someone who just stops showing up, or who punches a co-worker in the face. You can cold-fire them. Programmers who do their jobs in good faith, on the other hand, belong in the "treat him well even if we don't need him" status bucket.

What does being a programmer have to do with it?

There's a quiet but significant portion of non-executive professionals that get reasonably generous separation packages. One must consider that content people do not usually make noise (and in fact, in this circumstance, are often legally forbidden from disclosing any details related to the separation).

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