Developers (1 Viewer)

[sublimeone]

I have a full-stack developer (full-time employee working remotely). His role is primarily involved in building internal applications for our small digital company. Right now he's working on a custom CMS for our inside sales team. Lately his attitude has been kind of meh and he's essentially told me he's getting bored, doesn't feel like he's learning new stuff etc... He's a good guy and he's going to help me transition but I'm not sure I want to just replace him.

What are my options? One thing that we could never really figure out was communication. We'd start a new initiative, I'd provide detailed wireframes and go over them with him and he'd have no questions for me. He'd work for a bit, tell me he's a few weeks away but never come even close to hitting deadlines. If I tried to pin him down at all - he'd get annoyed. Other issues are that he would come up against a challenge and instead of providing options he'd just work tirelessly to make something work a certain way even though other options would have been easier to implement. 

He just sort of refuses to bring these issues to me and let me determine how important they are in terms of the business application. The other issue is I've dealt with multiple developers and he's the one I work with the best, plus he's pretty talented, so I've kind of tolerated a lot of this even though it hasn't been ideal. 

Any suggestions where I can go from here? Is it realistic to hire a 'Project Manager' who can then manage outsourced contractors for these types of projects?

 

[Jaysus]

sleep with his wife

 

[[scooter]]

Developers?

 

[sublimeone]

Developers?

oh wow

 

[Kafka]

oh wow

That's disgusting.

 

[wikkidpissah]

oh.....thought it might be a  thread. carry on -

 

[sublimeone]

That's disgusting.

obviously you're not a developer

 

[kutta]

It sounds like he needs better/closer management. Everyone needs deadlines and schedules. There should never be the case where he says he's "a few weeks away," and then doesn't make schedule. It does sound like a PM who will work with him to develop a schedule, and then hold him to it, is the best way.

One thing to do may be to have him do his work at fixed cost instead of paying him by the hour. If you guys can come to agreement on a price for each project, I bet he gets it done much quicker if he's getting paid for the project instead of by the hour.

 

[NutterButter]

How long are these projects?   Does he not show you anything until the very end?

 

[ffldrew]

Why are you building a CMS when there are open source systems out there?

Really tick him off and tell him you are going to Agile - scrum call every morning at 6AM. Developers loooooove them.

 

[msommer]

I have a full-stack developer (full-time employee working remotely). His role is primarily involved in building internal applications for our small digital company. Right now he's working on a custom CMS for our inside sales team. Lately his attitude has been kind of meh and he's essentially told me he's getting bored, doesn't feel like he's learning new stuff etc... He's a good guy and he's going to help me transition but I'm not sure I want to just replace him.

What are my options? One thing that we could never really figure out was communication. We'd start a new initiative, I'd provide detailed wireframes and go over them with him and he'd have no questions for me. He'd work for a bit, tell me he's a few weeks away but never come even close to hitting deadlines. If I tried to pin him down at all - he'd get annoyed. Other issues are that he would come up against a challenge and instead of providing options he'd just work tirelessly to make something work a certain way even though other options would have been easier to implement. 

He just sort of refuses to bring these issues to me and let me determine how important they are in terms of the business application. The other issue is I've dealt with multiple developers and he's the one I work with the best, plus he's pretty talented, so I've kind of tolerated a lot of this even though it hasn't been ideal. 

Any suggestions where I can go from here? Is it realistic to hire a 'Project Manager' who can then manage outsourced contractors for these types of projects?

Outsource it

 

[JaxBill]

It sounds like he needs better/closer management. Everyone needs deadlines and schedules. There should never be the case where he says he's "a few weeks away," and then doesn't make schedule. It does sound like a PM who will work with him to develop a schedule, and then hold him to it, is the best way.

One thing to do may be to have him do his work at fixed cost instead of paying him by the hour. If you guys can come to agreement on a price for each project, I bet he gets it done much quicker if he's getting paid for the project instead of by the hour.

As a developer, it sounds like he needs milestones to hit along the way. Even working remotely,  he should be able to share a screen and show you any problems he's having. It really sounds to me it's more of a motivation factor though.

As far as Agile, I think it does some good in that you spell out any stumbling blocks and can get input from others. Daily stand ups are overkill though imo.

 

[JaxBill]

Oh, and if you're looking for a contract Java Web Developer to work remotely, I know one who can start immediately, if not sooner.

 

[jon_mx]

Outsource to India.  

 

[El Floppo]

so I guess guys who are actually what's historically known as developers... people who develop large-scale building projects... are now in the same boat as people who were historically known as architects. welcome, friends.

 

[NutterButter]

Why are you building a CMS when there are open source systems out there?

Really tick him off and tell him you are going to Agile - scrum call every morning at 6AM. Developers loooooove them.

 

[ffldrew]

Why are you building a CMS when there are open source systems out there?

Really tick him off and tell him you are going to Agile - scrum call every morning at 6AM. Developers loooooove them.

I was on a project with nearly 20+ people from around the world that took place daily. It took nearly 2 hours to go through it on many occasions. Especially around quarterly CI update times. It was a horror show of online meeting hell - dogs, kids, flushing toilets, horrible English, people not paying attention, and the one guy who was the data hoarder - couldn't move forward without him weighing in. Not my favorite way to do business.

 

[NutterButter]

I was on a project with nearly 20+ people from around the world that took place daily. It took nearly 2 hours to go through it on many occasions. Especially around quarterly CI update times. It was a horror show of online meeting hell - dogs, kids, flushing toilets, horrible English, people not paying attention, and the one guy who was the data hoarder - couldn't move forward without him weighing in. Not my favorite way to do business.

Hell no.   

 

[sublimeone]

How long are these projects?   Does he not show you anything until the very end?

The projects usually range from a few months to a year. He shows me things but he'll tell me things like 'it all back-end stuff so there's not a lot to see...' - and since I'm clueless I have no way of knowing whether he's blowing smoke

 

[sublimeone]

Why are you building a CMS when there are open source systems out there?

Really tick him off and tell him you are going to Agile - scrum call every morning at 6AM. Developers loooooove them.

I used the wrong acronym - he's building a CRM. 

We have a very specific lead generation process. We've survived so far on existing apps but we need something custom at this point.

 

[NutterButter]

The projects usually range from a few months to a year. He shows me things but he'll tell me things like 'it all back-end stuff so there's not a lot to see...' - and since I'm clueless I have no way of knowing whether he's blowing smoke

So during a year long project, he only shows you a few things here and there?   This situation doesn't sound good.  What about your relationship does work well and how bad was it with other developers?

 

[DallasDMac]

As far as Agile, I think it does some good in that you spell out any stumbling blocks and can get input from others. Daily stand ups are overkill though imo.

Sounds like maybe three week increments or something would work for this guy. Give him time to accomplish something, yet not so long that he can waste away a good chunk of development time. Weekly updates wouldn't hurt either, nor be overly intrusive.

 

[ffldrew]

Why are you building a CMS when there are open source systems out there?

Really tick him off and tell him you are going to Agile - scrum call every morning at 6AM. Developers loooooove them.

I used the wrong acronym - he's building a CRM. 

We have a very specific lead generation process. We've survived so far on existing apps but we need something custom at this point.

Sugar? Open source CRM - pretty widely known. now suiteCRM

https://suitecrm.com/

 

[sublimeone]

So during a year long project, he only shows you a few things here and there?   This situation doesn't sound good.  What about your relationship does work well and how bad was it with other developers?

It's hard to say exactly. The projects vary so much. He's turned around some things pretty quickly and others drag on forever. I've had some good talks with him the last couple of days and I think what it comes down to is that he comes up against challenges and instead of seeking alternatives or asking me how important certain features are he just puts his head down and works... and so he's spending excessive time on features without ever taking into consideration if it's worth it or it there's an alternative.

We had a good chat yesterday and determined that a couple features were not a requirement on the initial launch of the current project. He seemed much more confident about the time-table after making those adjustmetns. Going forward we are having a bi-weekly meeting.

The thing I like about him is that he's willing to build the tools I need and he seems to get what we are trying to achieve from a business perspective. He's very thorough and I think he genuinely wants to help me build my business.

Regarding the other developers: one guy made a homophobic comment to another employee who became very upset. He was so embarrassed/ashamed he left the office and refused to correspond with me. I never saw him again. One went crazy - literally. Another just had a massive ego and was difficult to work with and was super expensive. 

 

[Christo]

sleep with his wife

Like he's married 

 

[GregR]

You could can him and hire Paula Bean. I imagine she's probably available.

 

[bushdocda]

Guy on project team who's usually in the US went home to India and actually sounded like he was taking a call in the middle of rush hour traffic. Honk honk