CPO of Boosta, which develops and monetizes its own Web & Apps products, Petro Nikolaev believes that he is ready to release a talented toxic person. He gave his arguments why it should be done. And the people of IT shared their own opinion on this matter in the comments.
CPO of Boosta, which develops and monetizes its own Web & Apps products, Petro Nikolaev believes that he is ready to release a talented toxic person. He gave his arguments why it should be done. And the people of IT shared their own opinion on this matter in the comments.
«This is an investment in a healthy climate and team productivity,» said Petro Nikolaev.
He gave an example of research, according to which in a team of four people, one toxic personality can reduce the effectiveness of the entire group by 30-40%. «Even if this person is talented, their negative impact on the atmosphere and productivity should not be underestimated,» he adds.
Petro Nikolaev explains that instead of working on strategic tasks — a roadmap, planning or achieving goals — the team gets involved in intrigues, discussions and conflicts: «who said what to whom», «why did this happen», «who did not understand whom».
«This not only demotivates others, but also creates constant distractions. Toxicity is a burden that destroys a team’s culture and slows it down,» says the CPO.
That is why he chose a simple approach for himself and advises others: if the situation cannot be changed, fire toxic people immediately.
Other IT-guys came to him in the comments with their experience and vision of the situation.
Some support this position and add that they have personally seen a decrease in working capacity in a team where there was «toxicity». «There was such a tox (not IT) in my experience that I still remember with horror, and really, where she worked, there were always low indicators,» said QA Engineer Larisa Zayets .
And DevOps Engineer Viktori Chmel says that there are other examples when such people are not fired, but promoted. «I personally saw this when they hired a QA manager who knew almost nothing about testing, then they tolerated him for a long time (especially my team of testers), and then they also relocated to the USA… It’s still a mystery to me why? I heard that this was done in Soviet times so that a person would not interfere with the team, to fire him was a scandal, then the only way out was to raise him. But, damn, the toxin at higher levels will bring more problems,» Viktor says.
But there are also situations when one and the same person is toxic for someone, but absolutely normal for others. As the Founder of Grass Business Labs Victor Korovyanko explains, everyone understands the word «toxic» differently and they argue without understanding each other. «In my understanding, a straightforward or rude person is most likely not toxic, or rather, it is even a certain guarantee that it is not a toxic person,» he explains. He cites his own criteria for a toxic person, including:
«In essence, this is a saboteur in the enemy’s camp. I don’t see any reason to keep a saboteur with or without spacers between him and the others. He will look for opportunities to bypass these pads and still harm. If this is just a rude person who does his job and is focused on the success of the project, then this is not toxic and you can always find a way to interact with him. «And give me the wisdom to distinguish one from the other,» Viktor adds.
And freelancer in QA Mykhailo Bliznenko believes that without «toxicants» the team will definitely not remain and dismissal will not help here. «Don’t forget that there is always a toxic person in the team. Roles are redistributed — the „toxic person“ remains. Someone else is appointed by it. This is not something new in IT, in other industries it has been solved for a long time. If a person is a professional, with whom it is a pity to say goodbye, they are assigned a process where they are autonomous and bear full responsibility for their work. All. Well, they are loaded with work and motivated according to its values. In other cases, yes, to say goodbye,» he explains.
If ordinary IT-guys support the release, some of the leaders believe that this energy can be directed «to peaceful purposes.» In particular, Co-Founder and CEO of Bimp Dmytro Obukhov emphasizes that a toxic person is someone who has the energy for it. «If it is possible to direct it in the right direction, then there will simply not be enough time for toxicity,» he adds.
And some people even see positive things in toxic employees. «Toxics perform best, and force others to reform. Let’s get some tolerant sad shit. Everyone will be comfortable and the result will be a third later,» says Senior DevOps, Team Lead Oleksandr Galai. Citing an example from his experience, he assures that toxic PM, semi-toxic Dev, top-toxic QA and toxic Ops give many times better results than u/g. «As they say, you just don’t know how to cook them,» he jokes.
Other specialists suggest considering several options for working with toxic individuals without immediately resorting to dismissal. Senior Frontend Serhii thinks so and adds that a good manager can work with anyone, not just loyal ones. He advises:
«In my environment, really talented people can often be rude, direct, insult or devalue, but often they just say what they think and criticize honestly. Such people often do revolutionary things. The question is not simple, but if you ask in another way. You will choose someone who speaks well, is pleasant in communication and does not yet know anything, or someone who knows his business, but allows himself to be toxic. I don’t have simple answers and everything depends on the situation,» notes the developer.
