In addition (not opposed) to Bob's advice, might I suggest that Going Nuts himself might get some narrowly focused, short term counseling from a professional? Counseling is not just for "nuts" any more. A good counselor could provide two things:

1) A different perspective on the situation. Good counselors listen at a high level and provide unbiased feedback.

2) Tips for dealing with people like A1 in ways that minimize the chance of Going Nuts' own frustration and anger adding to the problem.

I have gotten some extremely valuable counseling along these lines, and I would say it paid dividends comfortably above the cost of the sessions -- in dollars alone (raises, bonuses), but also in sanity.

Think of it as keeping my side of the street clean -- and SANE. Then, I will be more likely to help others do the same.

Very good advice. I also have an Al, with whom I've taken some of the remedial approaches outlined. Hadn't thought about the depression angle though. Interesting.

Thanks,

Hi Bob,

First of all I want to say how much I love your blogg.

This problem I have experienced many times in the past and is a common problem with unfortuantly the most talented members of staff. Talent and ability often means AGRO for management.

Last year I had the fortunate oppurtunity to be Head of Projects for a leading Supply Chain Software house which had working for it some of the most highly paid and talented system developers, architects and business analysts I have ever meet.

However, the buy product of having these talented people under ones wing is constant demands for money, moaning about this that and the other, immotional outbursts, fights and even walk outs followed by equally quick returns once the cool air had hit them outside the office.

To keep the status quo and keep me MAGIC software development pipe line flowing myself and my managment team coined the term FLUFFING. We had to devote 25% of our working hours each week showing love to these talented and highly productive guys.

The way we dealt with the more frequent pains in the arse ran as follows :-

(1) We asked colleagues to list what they liked and disliked about the person in question. We found more often than not that these people were as upset as you about this persons behavour. Without names I would bring these positives and negatives to the guys attention in a meeting. They have to know they breaking the vase after which there is no come back.

(2) I set them a bonus system related to exceptional performance. I did this at the supply chain software house and gave the MAGIC IT pros almost impossible delivery targets. This motivated the already talented and motivated to work even harder (wekends etc) so they did not have time to think about the coffee machine breakdowns.

(3) Set ambitious training targets for the worst offenders with the training investment tied to their imployment contract. i.e they had to pay the money back if they left within the next 28 motnhs etc. Keep these B*****ds as busy as hell.

(4) Installed a pool table, bean bags and free fruit and bread in the office to make thing so relaxed and cool that these guys would not want to move to IBM or LOGICA etc.

I have to say all this worked great and the FLUFFING dropped within the first 6 months to 5% of my managment time.

GREAT RESULT and no wheels falling off !!!!!!!1

While I usually prefer to critique an idea on its own merits, Kevin Brady's post above was just so wrong I had to follow the link to his site and see what else he had to say. Unsurprisingly, it was more of the same ill-conceived, poorly argued, grammatically deficient garbage.

Kevin, the tactic you propose of keeping developers too busy to complain, of getting them to come in on weekends to achieve artificial goals, only works on the inexperienced young developers you advocate using on small projects. Those of us with a little experience have a term for this practice: bullying. It doesn't work on the people you should be using on important projects.

If it wasn't clear enough the contempt you have for the "B*****ds" working for you , you made it crystal clear when you used the term "fluffing" to describe how you managed them.

Oh, and:

• "buy product" is what you want your customers to do more of, it's not a synonym for "side-effect"
• "immotional" is not even a word
• "no wheels falling off !!!!!!!1" ... wow, you write like a 14-year-old

I'm almost sure this was just a troll anyway. The writing style is too childish, the thinking is self-consciously wrong-headed, the bio on your site is not verifiable. If I'm right, congratulations on getting me to spend the time replying. If you're for real, I can only hope that anyone who has to deal with you googles you to see what they're getting.

Umm Drew, you appear to have your head firmly jammed where the sun doesn't shine. If you want to reprimand a blogger for bad grammar or spelling then you might want to also pull up the other 99.999% of bloggers who are also lazy in their application of the English language. Who are you anyway - the grammar police!

Whilst you might not agree with everything Mr Brady writes (a position I happen to share) you might show the courtesy of arguing your corner coherently, rather than resorting to childish name calling.

Unfortunately, it always surprises me when ideas and thoughts from outside the mainstream are shot down in flames. We should all do a little more listening and intelligent debate rather than hapless besmirching as per Drew's rant above.

Ever been trolled, Simon? I've seen sites that look like serious political blogs with fairly extreme positions. They're extensive, well produced, and inflammatory. They're maintained by people with the time and inclination to do a little "culture jamming", just trying to elicit a reaction.

When they get the reaction, they either up the rhetorical ante (for the long-term sites), or mock the respondents for not catching the obvious clues that it was a spoof (for the one-shot posts). Clues such as inappropriate or offensive language and ideas, incorrect use of common words, and leetspeak.

"Kevin Brady" above has enough time invested in his site that I wouldn't expect him to admit it's an elaborate troll. While I'm sure there are people stupid enough to think his methods are a good way to do business, I expect someone making a living as a consultant would know better than to publish under their own name tactics that could expose them to lawsuits.

The only reason I pointed out the word use issues was to make the point that I believe the post was a troll. Someone with the experience claimed on the linked site would not be likely to make those mistakes.

You said you prefer intelligent debate to "hapless besmirching", but I don't see where you addressed the main points I made: bullying, abuse, artificial deadlines, contempt for your employees, comparing peers to sex workers.

Did you have anything to say about that?

Ha Ha sounds like you've got some sort of trolling complex there Drew. Fair enough!

Although, if you took your supposition to it's logical conclusion then everybody who disagreed with you, might be considered troll like.

I reiterate Mr Brady's views are not mine and it is up to him, to defend his position, not me.

Although, judging by the aggressive tone of your comments I suspect he might consider you a comment troll and devote his energies elsewhere!

hi Folks,

I have been ill for a while with a bad kidney infection and I am not sure that it has completely gone away. The only thing I apologise for is the use of the some expletives. However, I must say in the IT software world expletives are used as part of common business language these days. I am sorry to have offended a couple of people on this site however I am talking about what has worked for me.

All the people who have worked for me in the past with hardly an exception are good friends of mine and I have always run an inclusive and participative management style for my staff. However, I do not and have never felt from experience that treating staff like premadonnas pays off. You need to give them targets sometimes impossible ones; you need to offer them training and a promotion /review path so they can achieve personal goals. If you don't keep clever people challenged, rewarded for performance and offered the chance to plan their own work you are not going to get things working efficiently. The software house I worked for had near riots on the development floor when I arrived due to shocking management and frequent breaches of promise to the staff. I replaced that situation with vision /structure and a meritocracy for the staff.

Ow by the way the blogg I have started is my honest views and I will carry on with it come high and hell water. I want to see common sense applied to the industry and its problems. If you don’t like what you read don’t click on !!

Finally I wonder how many of you are AGILE evangelists