> It's a pretty nice job security situation. Whether this is a conscious or subconscious move on the part of the "difficult" team member, don't allow yourself

> It's a pretty nice job security situation. Whether this is a conscious or subconscious move on the part of the "difficult" team member, don't allow yourself to be manipulated. As long as you have full access to the source code, deployment pipelines and full control over the domain, it's always possible to figure out how things work and document them after the fact. Sure it can be a big pain in the butt, and you'll often find yourself failing to understand why things were done a certain way; but with skill and patience you can demonstrate that the "indispensable" lone wolf genius is a lot more dispensable than he thinks he is. Obviously it's much more preferable to find some way of working together that honours his contributions while also moving towards a more scaleable way of working, but you can't force another person to change their approach if they are not willing to co-operate, learn and grow.