I found this interesting post on the “Creating passionate users” blog. It talks about how always hiring the same kind of person can hurt an organisation. I guess I agree to a certain extent, but when it comes to software engineering I think our principal tool is our mind, and we should keep our tools sharp – so while the backgrounds of the people you hire can be diverse make sure that their mind is in good working order and that they have a desire to keep it that way.

One thing that Kathy Sierra did point out was this book (Amazon). I read down through the editorial reviews and picked up this little quote:

While our culture generally trusts experts and distrusts the wisdom of the masses, New Yorker business columnist Surowiecki argues that "under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them.

This isn’t always correct, in fact it is incorrect often enough to make it a dangerous thing to rely on for decision making. It also leads to a situation where everyone can make a decision but no one is responsible.

Mind you, the average customer rating on Amazon for “The Wisdom of Crowds” is four out of five stars – I wonder if crowds are useful for reviewing books