"Can anyone point to a company that truly figured out hiring? From what I've seen, it's mostly down to decision makers having good people instincts."
Conjecture for discussion: This is true of almost all aspects of running a successful software development group: Hiring, Project management, Architecture, UI Design...
Nobody seems to have "figured it out" to the point where you can write out an objective, repeatable process. It almost always comes down to having people with good "instincts" (i.e. They make good decisions) in positions where (a) they can make decisions, and (b) the team acts on those decisions without obstructing them or screwing them up.
Good point. Personally, I think that articles describing how you do X (and why) - assuming the writer has some history of successfully doing X - are more valuable than articles that try to define how X should be done. And even more valuable are articles about an actual thing you've done, and how you went about it. More show, less tell.
Conjecture for discussion: This is true of almost all aspects of running a successful software development group: Hiring, Project management, Architecture, UI Design...
Nobody seems to have "figured it out" to the point where you can write out an objective, repeatable process. It almost always comes down to having people with good "instincts" (i.e. They make good decisions) in positions where (a) they can make decisions, and (b) the team acts on those decisions without obstructing them or screwing them up.