dealing with unskilled/unmotivated developers

[piako]

how would you deal with this situation?

i'm the dev. lead for a small project. completion date circa dec. 2008. currently there are 3 developers including myself. we've met with the project requesor a few times to define the project scope and refine the system requirements. the system is a basic web app, database, asp, with a few bells and whistles. there is some obscure variant of c someone in the team will have to learn to deal with for a particular system function. other than that it's rather basic.

the problem i am having is one developer has no idea what he's doing and has no motivation to contribute to this project. he has stated he believes the project to be 'a joke.' i also am not in the position of firing anyone (which would have been done a long time ago if i had the authority).

i basically reworked a good section of the project workload so this problem dev. has a lighter load and now will handle gui and project documentation (sans hard stuff like coding). he's someone i wouldn't normally associate with outside of the work area.

besides going to the department head and basically asking for a change do you have any ideas on how to deal with someone like this, in your exp.? ever been in this spot?

 

[Rurik]

You need to somehow get his buy-in. Why is the project a joke to him? What are his problems with it? How would he see it being developed if he was in charge? Sometimes just talking and figuring out the root of his belief can either find ways to compromise and adjust the development based on his input or try to convince him that it's going correctly.

 

[pxc]

You shouldn't have restructured the project around him. While you may not have the authority to fire him, you could have used his unproductiveness as evidence to whoever does have the authority to fire him.

I have never seen redemption of a worthless programmer, but you can try if you like.

 

[mrgstiffler]

Just start CCing the boss on your communications with him and the problem will solve itself shortly.

 

[mejohnm]

Damn, I am not that experience but I have the motivation to learn and be a team player. Rurik's idea may work, but I think there are a lot of people out there that want a chance to prove themselves. I would go with Maximus825 idea if the talk with him doesn't go as you want it to.

 

[ameoba]

If he just doesn't give a fuck & doesn't want to work, simply don't plan on him doing anything (or doing it correctly when he does). Tell him to go read some blogs and stay out of the way.

If he's actually a good dev that can't take the project seriously, OTOH, giving him bullshit easy jobs is just going to make him care -less- about the project.

 

[Tytalus]

Just start CCing the boss on your communications with him and the problem will solve itself shortly.

This is usually a bad idea, and leads to people thinking you are a "complainer", and not management-worthy or promotion-worthy. The ability to solve your own issues is at the core of software development--if you can't manage software developers (read: solve your own problems) then you don't deserve the job.

Now, with that said, you do need to get his buy-in, or at the very least find out why it's a joke to him. The business case is the reason why he needs to be concerned--he's paid to develop a product that will make the company money. If he doesn't believe in that concept THEN it's time to go to the hiring/firing authority with the evidence and make a case for removal or reassignment.