from Hacker News

Ask HN: What to do when a lazy programmer is ruining the teams motivation

by vuyani on 8/29/17, 10:39 AM with 3 comments

Hi, So theres this programmer at work that hardly does any work at all. He spends most of his time surfing the net and watching videos. His attitude is affecting his teams motivation as they under pressure to deliver, and they end up doing most of the work while he surfs the net. The thing is. They extremely upset, but also feel like they cannot approach management and tell on him as they feel bad about that. Management hasn't noticed his lack of work cause he bullshits his way in stand up and about his task deadlines.

What would you recommend them do in order to either get him off the team or start pulling his socks?

  • by onion2k on 8/29/17, 10:56 AM

    What would you recommend them do in order to either get him off the team or start pulling his socks?

    Before doing either of those things, why not try to address why he isn't working? Is he finding his tasks boring? Is he out of his depth? Is there a problem outside of work that's affecting his productivity that he needs help with?

    It's preferable for everyone if you can help a team member rather than being antagonistic or defensive when there's a problem.

  • by brudgers on 8/29/17, 2:03 PM

    It's not your job. It is management's. If it is not worth the risk of airing your concerns to management, then that just shows that it is not really the particular developer that is the problem. And the idea of "the team" taking matters into its own hands is just another sign of how dysfunctional the workplace is.

    Either act properly, or don't act. There's no excuse for anything else. The internet cannot give you permission.

    Good luck.