Vi-agency CEO Victoria Azarova raised the topic of whether it is possible to forgive very strong specialists for missing deadlines if it slows down the work of the entire team.
Vi-agency CEO Victoria Azarova raised the topic of whether it is possible to forgive very strong specialists for missing deadlines if it slows down the work of the entire team.
«We had a very strong specialist who constantly violated deadlines. The result was there, the clients were satisfied, but the team was constantly waiting for it. I endured for a long time — because of the result. But it was killing the pace of the company,» she shared with the community on her LinkedIn page.
The CEO of Vi-agency asked her followers if they would work with people who ignore rhythm, «but only if they are geniuses.» A large number of IT professionals and representatives of the tech sector expressed their opinion in the comments.
Frontend Developer Viktor Tyagur suggested that, knowing such shortcomings of his talented specialist, he should immediately «set» extended deadlines for him.
«If you clearly understand that he is delaying for a certain period, then either immediately increase the period (maybe even without his knowledge, let him think that the deadline is a week, when it is a week and a half), or maybe he needs to work on his time management?» — the IT worker expressed his opinion.
To this, Victoria Azarova replied that adjusting a business to the irresponsibility of a particular specialist, even a talented one, is not the best strategy for management.
AI expert Vilena Ostapenko spoke about her experience working with a similar specialist, whom she eventually transferred to project work, but did not fire.
«I had this happen in my team. A person would wait until the last day, until the deadline, then start work in the evening, work hard all day, beat the deadline, and in the morning produce a brilliant result. But she wouldn’t go to the office because she went to bed. What did they do? They offered project work and set the deadline a few days earlier than necessary. No, I didn’t fire her,» she shared with the community.
System analyst & Software engineer Volodymyr Shchetkov expressed the opinion that in this situation, it is necessary to decide what is more expensive, if the scales are a deadline and a satisfied client.
«Give him a parallel direction of work than the team. And after some time, evaluate the achievements of the team and the individual specialist. That way you won’t lose the specialist and the team won’t have to wait for anyone,» he advised.
Co-Founder at Netex Cloud Technologies Oleksandr Kovalenko expressed the opinion that in this situation it is necessary to ask not so much the specialist himself, although he is also asked, but his PM. «Didn’t the project manager add some percentage to the time, taking into account previous learnings? If not, then the question should be addressed to the PM,» he concluded.
AI Creator Andriy Nysynets, in turn, noted that if we are talking about creativity, then «this is not something off the shelf that you put in on a deadline and left.»
«This is a process — sometimes it flies, sometimes it stalls. But one thing is important here: communication. If something is on fire, let me know. If you can’t make it in time, tell me. The client will understand everything if you talk to him normally. But firing a strong specialist is a crossbow. Because you won’t recruit such people. But letting him ruin the rhythm or reputation is also not. It all depends on the context. I wouldn’t fire him. I would hit him in the ears and explain that it won’t happen again,» the specialist said.
Several contributors on LinkedIn also called for an investigation into what exactly is preventing this specialist from meeting deadlines, as he may have other work commitments at the same time.
We recently wrote about how IT professionals who secretly work multiple jobs at the same time shared which positions are easiest to do so in .
