Bad Hiring Practices

Believing Other People's Opinions

You have no idea what other people are basing their opinions on. You really have no idea what someone's interactions were with the other person that would lead them to their opinions. Usually it comes down to TheyAreNiceOrNot?. Probe deeper an they may have not interacted on any kind of technical level.

Do your own interview. Ask your own questions. Form your own opinions.

Pressure from Management

Sometimes management will pressure a group to hire someone they know. This is a sign of disrespect to the team and shows there is a problem.

Management Says this Person was a Goto Guy or a Star

: Management pressures a team to hire someone because they were a star or a GotoGuy? on a previous project. Usually stars are formed because of heroics. Usually heroics are needed because a project is in trouble. How did the project get in trouble? Usually because the same management hired bad people which couldn't build a good system in the first place. The star is this same sort of person. You don't need the star because they are usually a hack, they usually are too pragmatic, they usually don't know about design, and they usually kiss up to management.

I'm a little confused: what would be an example of someone being "too pragmatic" on a software project?

We need to get this out the door and the big boss says not to test anything. Just code. That's too pragmatic.

That's not any amount of pragmatic. What that is "too" of, is expedient.

As i am unaware of any units of pragmatism i am afraid your question will forever go unanswered.

Pragmatism explored (a little)

As often happens, a discussion focuses on a particular word out of many, and the different shades of meaning become evident. The first author was invoking a meaning closer to the original and now archaic meaning: busy. Implying action without due diligence to thought. Other subsequent authors invoke the more modern meaning of practical, down to earth, almost synonymous with "useful". Who could argue with that?

This is close enough to my meaning http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=pragmatism. It's practical to give into management's every whim, but it's not the RightThingToDo?. See also http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=pragmatic, as the first reference relies some on the second.

Is there an example in the wild of a software developer who gives in to management's every whim? ALl that I know are rather the opposite, often opposing management even when it's right

Yes, in this climate people are afraid for their jobs and are this afraid to rock the boat. Especially if they have a family, new house, etc.