Have been a PM on a number of projects over the last five years and encountered a number of 'silo oriented' software developers however a developer on my current project is proving to be a challenge I cannot seem to easily address.
The project is critical for delivery this year. The developer has been at the company a long time and is classed as 'senior' however from what I can tell, has been given free reign to deliver work with minimal project structure or monitoring. This situation has been fine for previous work as they have all been self-contained and interact with other software written by the team. This project has a number of external dependancies and constraints ranging from accreditation with banks to delivery of custom software components from third party suppliers.
Due to the complexity of the project, it is important from my perspective to lock down as much as we can, and track the project on a regular basis to ensure progress is being achieved and blocking issues are highlighted.
Problem is - the developer won't play ball. He indicates he is flexible and willing, but is refusing point-blank to provide me breakdown of estimates, be subject to conversational tracking to cover the deliverables or providing regular status updates. Any project meeting is disrupted and veers off-track when he is involved. Discussion of the most trivial technical matters results in a long conversation where he tries to 'baffle' the recipient into submission. Estimates are always on the lengthy side and arrive with a list of caveats which are largely subjective and only allow future excuses. A refusal/reluctance to provide any measurable milestones within those estimates is the icing on the cake. On top of all this, there is a level of disrespect during any verbal conversation which gives the impression that he considers himself superior to the project management function and accusations are made that I don't 'trust' him and am 'trying to trip him up'
On top of this, a pre-project proof-of-concept piece took an inordinately long time which I felt was disproportionate to the work involved, and doesn't bode well for the main body of work. I accept that there was a lot of new technology involved and his learning curve may have been steep, but I have to bear this in mind when assessing risk.
I have addressed this with the programme manager, who sympathises but we are hamstrung by the senior departmental manager who feels this guy is a genius and that we shouldn't 'micro manage' him if we want to get the best out of him. Suggestions to bring in another developer to shadow him for contingency purposes have been rejected.
The senior manager has indicated that I will not be held accountable for any delays with the developer, which I find frankly ridiculous as he is an integral part to my project (which I am accountable for).
I can just see this going from bad to worse, and I know who will take the rap if (when) the project delivers late, and it won't be the developer.
Just feel in an uncomfortable place with this project, and would welcome any advice. Saving Changes...
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Robert ProlProject Manager| KPMG LLPEast Sandwich, Ma, United States
Welcome to dysfunctional IT project management. Without management support for your role in managing this person - and therefore the project, I'd recommend you come up with some coping skills. Resilience is greatly improved by taking a 2 mile run during lunch.
It may be you are dealing with a person who won't admit they don't know how to breakdown costs. If this is the case, depending on the dysfunctional level of their personality, you may be able to "dare" them to come up with estimates, or show them some techniques for breaking down estimates (or whatever else they don't provide).
Or another tactic may be to not provide them any information, and don't invite them to project meetings. If they can't provide information, then they shouldn't receive information. This may at least push the discussion around the cretin's participation to the forefront. Fight lack of information with lack of information - kinda like an eye for an eye...
Interesting dilemna, you may want to post to the Leadership GIG, since I think your solution is in the soft skills of PM. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Just discussed this with the programme manager again. We are going to try a different approach, namely making him completely responsible for the delivery of the development and seperating it from the overall project schedule, instead hanging a milestone in the plan for 'Completion of Development'. Rather like treating the guy as a third-party (within the project context). The thinking is that the extra responsibility may motivate him, whilst it also means a failure to deliver will be handled by the development manager rather than myself. I will still manage 'around' this milestone, including the testing, accreditation, UAT etc. I will still retain the relatinships with suppliers, so if he needs to escalate anything he will have to do it via myself however the dev manager will insist on escalations having to be justified.
Not sure how well this will work or not, but its a novel approach at least. I'm sure there will be issues along the way, time to wait and see I suppose... Saving Changes...
I apologize Anonymous. I don't see that approach as working out. All of the critical path are now within this guys area? You can't get him to commit a deliverable to a milestone, and now this guy holds all the keys? I'm sorry - this looks like a recipe for disaster to me. This guy is going to very quickly realize that he is now in a superior position, a position of power. Based on your comments, I would be very surprised if he refrained from exercising that power. You're responsible for the project - he can make you look very , very bad. Where's the up side for you?
You're in a tough spot. I am assuming you have tried working with him one-on-one. You have sought his advice on how best to deliver the work, but he has withheld his assistance? If he has - have you approached his resource manager explaining how you've striven to include him, but he is resistant to helping? His expertise is critical, etc., etc., etc...
I would turn more towards minimizing his involvement. Perhaps placing him in an advisory capacity - so that his contribution is no longer on the critical path. Also, I am assuming that this product is proprietary - and he's the ONLY one who can work on it. If it isn't consider outsourcing that component - bring in a contract programmer, buy something off the shelf that delivers the function as a module - etc.
It doesn't always have to be one guy - think laterally.
You definitely have a tough situation. Not only do you have a difficult developer, but also a boss who values that person tremendously. Essentially, the problem developer has the control and authority. The recent change to the milestone approach has just confirmed that fact.
If I were in your situation I would be thinking very defensively about my career and position:
* Consider putting my resume out to recruiters
* Consider telling my boss that I either need authority over the project and the developer, or someone else needs to run the project
* Documenting all of the tremendous risks you are facing, based on the unpredictability of the developer
* Quantifying the past unrelaibility of the developer, to help fuel and substantiate my list of risks
* Negotiating clear, written contracts or agreements with the developer, so there is no question about what will be delivered and when, according to the new milestone agreement
* Insisting on a schedule of interim deliverables before the final milestone (one milestone with every reporting period, or at most every two reporting periods)
* Quantifying the impact of late or over-budget delivery of the developer's work, so that the business cost is known up front, before anything goes wrong
It sounds like you have to do a lot to repair your relationship with the developer and with your boss. The underlying problem is that neither person is taking your concerns very seriously. The "genius" of the developer is ranked higher than your concerns, and that is interfering with your control of the project. I am not sure how things got to that point, but that is the main problem to address. If you are running the project, you need credibility and authority. I often run projects without direct authority over salary and reporting relationships, but I need some claim to indirect authority, credibility, and so on.
Do not look at any of this as your fault or the developer's fault. Just try to find some way to make it better. I hope my reply does not appear to be too harsh or critical. You are facing a very difficult situation, and I only hope my direct advice will be helpful. Saving Changes...
Kristina Frazier-HenryDigital Practice Leader| Fusion AllianceFishers, In, United States
If I had a nickle for every time I had been in this same exact spot :).
Anonymous - I'll break with majority and tell you - I agree with what you all have done - i.e. by treating him as a third party.
From an accountability perspective, you're respecting the wishes of those above you (i.e. he is a genius - let him do his thing) while at the same time, you're being a responsible project manager.
I've done the same thing. Most of the time, this situation works out well but let me tell you - it can be scary throughout the process.
Good luck and certainly, let us know how it turns out. Kristina Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Apologies for ressurecting this old thread however I felt it would be worth sharing with you the final outcome of this issue.
The new arrangement to treat the developer as a third-party looked good in theory however in reality it just provided more confusion over responsibility within the team. Quite aside from the simmering resentment you could feel from other team members that this guy was receiving special treatment, the guy himself couldn't seem to cope with the arrangement.
Essentially, the same issues continued - he would refuse to provide proper estimates or updates now citing that I 'don't manage him' (I did point out that I would expect third party suppliers to provide me this information however it never registered). He still worked completely in a silo, that is - until he had a problem, when he would *demand* my immediate action to resolve. On a number of occasions it transpired that he had sat on the issue in question for weeks, and little work of value had taken place in between. Once the issue was resolved, his official line for why it had been late was that it 'took weeks for the project manager to resolve the issue' and so on...
One thing I tried to do was provide a forum for peer/team pressure to do my job for me. I fixed up regular conference calls with suppliers/team and tried to de-personalise everything. 'What issues do we have?'. 'What do we need to do to resolve them?'. 'who is going to own that issue?'. 'When will we expect a resolution?' etc. After a number of weeks it was once again clear where the bottleneck was - this guys outstanding actions list was growing each meeting and few things were resolved. Everytime I tried to apply a little pressure (via the group), there was hostility.
My role was growing increasingly more frustrating, as I simply had no power and no way to move things forward. As time was ticking on, despite reporting the issues back to programme management, I was aware that we were now six months away from a delivery which - if I'm honest - I couldn't see us delivering.
My next tactic was a re-plan. A complete re-baselining of the plan based on where we were at that point, with no finger pointing or blaming in terms of why we were there. I sat down with the team, gathered estimates and plotted these in a schedule. Distributed them, obtained comments, revised, distributed then issued. I discussed ways of shaving off a little time here or there in other areas and worked out that after all the time reductions we were in a 'zero contingency' situation and were riding the critical path like a rollercoaster at full speed. The good news was that we *could* still deliver.
Within a couple of weeks it was clear that the developers estimates were way out. Progress just simply wasn't being made. Trying to tackle this in as diplomatic way possible wound up with him accusing me of fabricating his estimates and how he had 'never agreed to them' (despite the feedback loops put in place).
Snapping point for me was a conference call with a supplier where he flatfly refused to tell me when he would do any work and became aggresive (with the supplier on the call). Once the call was finished, I lost my temper a little I admit, and said that I felt the kind of behaviour he exhibited was unacceptable and the project was at risk primarily due to his unwillingness or inability to work as part of a team. Immediately after this call he left the meeting room and went straight to the head of IT (bypassing my immediate manager) and HR to put a formal complaint in about my behaviour and how he 'refuses to be talked to like that'.
I was pulled into a meeting by the programme manager who informed me of this, and suggested I apologise, however I refused and said that I felt the months and months of poor behaviour from this guy had completely undermined me and prevented me from doing my job. The project IS at risk and I am not being given the tools or support to drive the thing home. Tellingly, my manager agreed with me.
After giving it some thought over the next couple of days, I formally wrote to the head of IT and said that if a solution could not be found which would result in me having authority over the entire project, then I feel it in the best interests of the company for me to relinquish the project to another PM. Approximately 10 nano-seconds later I was taken into a meeting room and told that I was being removed from the project with immediate effect.
The company wasn't doing that well due to the economy and cutbacks were in the air, so despite my other (smaller) projects doing pretty well, it was no surprise a couple of weeks later when I was put on notice of redundancy and so ended my decade-long association with the company.
As a footnote to this whole saga, I have kept in touch with a number of colleagues at the organisation and it seems that the project didn't get any better after I left. The deadline eventually arrived four months after another PM took over and the system simply didn't work. The project was canned (at great loss) and the developer in question was fired.
After a couple of months out of work I have now been employed in a more senior PM position at a company closer-to-home, working with a group of people who seem to be fantastic to work with. So a happy ending in the end, I guess!
Anyway, sorry to bore anyone - just wanted to conclude the thread as its sometimes frustrating to see a problem and some suggested solutions, without a posted outcome.
Thanks for sharing your experience and the outcome. It sounds like you did the brave, respectful, and ethical thing. It will sometimes get you fired, but I believe it is the best way to behave -- every time.
Thanks for sharing the story. Hopefully it will serve as a useful lesson to others.
The lesson that it reinforces for me is that fact that you always need to be prepared to walk away. Sometimes, despite all your best efforts, there is no way to fix the problem. In these cases, sometimes your best solution is to make the situation clear to the people around you and to tell them it is unacceptable to you.
Well done, and congratulations on the new job. Saving Changes...
