Giving advices no one asked for seems to be an intuitive solution for the problems of others. No one cares whether your idea works and the idea of others doesn'

Giving advices no one asked for seems to be an intuitive solution for the problems of others. No one cares whether your idea works and the idea of others doesn't, because solving that damn problem is the only thing everybody cares about, right? Wrong. In fact if you are right you are a smart ass making the others look like morons. If you are wrong you look like a moron. If you are right but nobody cares you may solve the problem by yourself and end up doing the work you are not paid for. People may get used to it and drink margaritas on the beach while you are fixing their bugs. Again and again. Until you burn out, jump ship and start fixing the problems of your new co-workers. Because solving that damn problem is the only thing everybody cares about, right? What works is the "let them learn through pain" technique: Focus on your own tasks and cover your own ass. Make sure that your project works. This will help you to outperform the others who are distracted by giving unasked advices. Let the others fail. Let them learn what does not work. Let them feel the pain. If they need help they will come to you, because you are the outperformer who doesn't made them feel like a moron with his unasked advices. If this moment comes, be patient and helpful. In this specific case I would focus on the following: - Cover your ass. If you have to do with this given person make sure he knows what your expectations are and give him a deadline. It makes easier to track whether he delivers only 90% or not. - Cover your ass. Deal with him like with a pawn in a chess game. What does a pawn of your opponent do? Basically nothing but annoys you blocking a field (delaying your projects). Do the same to him. Pick one of your pawns (an underperformer on your team) and put it in front of him (on the same dead-end project) and block his movements (keep him occupied and prevent him from working on mission critical code bases).