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It seems that the disadvantage to being remote is serious. I would consider step 3, a heart to heart, with some fact gathering beforehand. For example, who el

by roedog 16y ago

It seems that the disadvantage to being remote is serious. I would consider step 3, a heart to heart, with some fact gathering beforehand. For example, who else sees this guy for the schmuck he is? Can you recruit some allies who are in the office every day? How far has he cozied up to the CEO?

hga 16y ago
This may be key; right now it's clear that your perceptions of the guy and the CEO's are very different. And the CEO does not have (enough of) a problem with this guy attacking and undermining you. I wonder how important the CEO really views you to be. I don't see much alternative to playing the political game or deciding that you won't/can't and getting out. I know from very harsh personal experience that no matter how important to the company you are as a techie, others may not see it that way and let you leave/push you out, even though that then kills the company. A lot of it depends on the character of the other players and your personal relationships with them. Their not having reigned in this tremendously disrespectful guy says a whole lot to me, none of it good. Their inability to tell that he's a dud in important area (e.g. why are we still arguing stealth mode???) says a lot as well. Or let's put it this way: if they can't see that he's bad, what makes you think they can see that you're good? Final note: if you're small enough, you can't let this drag on too long. A single bad hire like this can be enough to kill a company; not just because of the mistakes he makes but because such companies don't have the reserves (time, motivation, energy, etc.) to deal with the whole mess.
- HN_adv_seeker 16y ago
  Hey, I don't have a lot of answers to your thoughts, but I appreciate them. I agree with comments made above that becoming the problem in this situation will cause concerns re: my ability to work with any future senior management; I think that's a key point. I myself have questions about this as I'm not experienced working with execs as a peer; most of my experience in the last 10+ years has been making the hiring decision, then having someone like him report to me. Probably all the more reason to execute well on this. I have plenty of personal protection built into the shareholder agreement, contracts and daily methodologies of the corporation; not to say I would never get booted, but it would be a slow and easy-to-spot process. Regarding sinking the ship, I generally agree with this perspective. I'm not sure if this particular situation is time critical or not, I still have some thinking to do about it.

by roedog 16y ago

hga 16y ago

This may be key; right now it's clear that your perceptions of the guy and the CEO's are very different. And the CEO does not have (enough of) a problem with this guy attacking and undermining you. I wonder how important the CEO really views you to be. I don't see much alternative to playing the political game or deciding that you won't/can't and getting out. I know from very harsh personal experience that no matter how important to the company you are as a techie, others may not see it that way and let you leave/push you out, even though that then kills the company. A lot of it depends on the character of the other players and your personal relationships with them. Their not having reigned in this tremendously disrespectful guy says a whole lot to me, none of it good. Their inability to tell that he's a dud in important area (e.g. why are we still arguing stealth mode???) says a lot as well. Or let's put it this way: if they can't see that he's bad, what makes you think they can see that you're good? Final note: if you're small enough, you can't let this drag on too long. A single bad hire like this can be enough to kill a company; not just because of the mistakes he makes but because such companies don't have the reserves (time, motivation, energy, etc.) to deal with the whole mess.

HN_adv_seeker 16y ago
Hey, I don't have a lot of answers to your thoughts, but I appreciate them. I agree with comments made above that becoming the problem in this situation will cause concerns re: my ability to work with any future senior management; I think that's a key point. I myself have questions about this as I'm not experienced working with execs as a peer; most of my experience in the last 10+ years has been making the hiring decision, then having someone like him report to me. Probably all the more reason to execute well on this. I have plenty of personal protection built into the shareholder agreement, contracts and daily methodologies of the corporation; not to say I would never get booted, but it would be a slow and easy-to-spot process. Regarding sinking the ship, I generally agree with this perspective. I'm not sure if this particular situation is time critical or not, I still have some thinking to do about it.