I’ve started looking at Topgrading at the suggestion of my colleague Kristen Johnson here at Twitter.

In short, the goal is to hire great team players that have the technical skills and an ability to collaborate effectively - two traits essential to driving the business forward. The thinking goes: it is better to falsely reject than mistakenly hire.

If, like me, you’re not familiar with Topgrading here are some resources to get you up to speed:

I've not put this into practice yet - merely learning what this is about and thinking of how best to apply this approach to hiring for product teams. Of note was the final step of the interview where the candidate arranges a reference check call directly with their present/former boss.

What has your experience been with Topgrading?