Recently I had to replace a programmer. It was an easy decision, but that doesn’t make it fun.
It seemed that his actions were saying “please, can you fire me?”. After I let him go, I gave him some notes on where I thought he could improve. All of which were communicated multiple times during his employment of course. I have put the list below, with a few modifications.
- version control reports have no detail
- disruptive comments during meetings
- need to be convinced of what the client/Bixly wants too often
- quick to put down very well educated programmers
- missed sprint review meeting
- delayed large project because couldn’t fulfill time commitment
- OOP skills lacking
- sporadic daily logs
- will not head coaching
Before I learned to fire fast and hire slow, I would have kept this programmer around for far too long. The situation could have ebbed the speedy growth of Bixly.
