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Well, what's the problem? Is it a behavioral issue? You may find yourself needing to "explain common sense," and set expectations accordingly. (Likewise, if th

Well, what's the problem? Is it a behavioral issue? You may find yourself needing to "explain common sense," and set expectations accordingly. (Likewise, if the problem is behavior during meetings, you might need to reflect on if your meetings are useful, or just "gatherings of people so someone feels important.") Is it a performance issue? You can only do so much with those, so it's best to do whatever you'd do with a person who has a performance problem. (Usually some form of training, set clear expectations, re-assignment to a different task, or PIP.) Are they annoying, requires handholding, or just need a lot of attention? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38258003 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38258003 has good strategies. What I've done with people who want/need a lot of attention is to set regular meetings, and then be selective about handling interruptions. That being said, IMO, it's best to discuss these issues with HR and your higher-up. Decide what your boundaries are, and what the company's boundaries and expectations are.

gwbas1c 3y ago
Some additional points I should have put in when I made the post yesterday: --- Autism isn't an excuse for violating personal boundaries. A few years ago I watched a documentary on autism and one of the autistic people was going through other co-workers desks. If your autistic team member is repeatedly violating personal boundaries, you need to treat them as you would any other person: Point out the infraction and then terminate them if they cannot fix the behavior. A disability like autism doesn't grant someone the permission to partake in antisocial behavior. --- Is your role correctly identified as manager? Or are you really an architect, project lead, or a principal engineer? Some companies are under the illusion that everyone wants to be a "Manager," and incorrectly label every leadership role as a manager. (Some of the clues for situations like this is that you would only have one to three direct reports, and that you will spend a lot of time hands-on in the code or other engineering activities.) The critical difference in a situation like this is that managers handle people problems, leads delegate their people problems back to their manager. If your role is mislabeled as manager, then you really should make your autistic co-worker your boss's problem. If that doesn't work, you should get reassigned or find a job elsewhere.

gwbas1c 3y ago

Some additional points I should have put in when I made the post yesterday: --- Autism isn't an excuse for violating personal boundaries. A few years ago I watched a documentary on autism and one of the autistic people was going through other co-workers desks. If your autistic team member is repeatedly violating personal boundaries, you need to treat them as you would any other person: Point out the infraction and then terminate them if they cannot fix the behavior. A disability like autism doesn't grant someone the permission to partake in antisocial behavior. --- Is your role correctly identified as manager? Or are you really an architect, project lead, or a principal engineer? Some companies are under the illusion that everyone wants to be a "Manager," and incorrectly label every leadership role as a manager. (Some of the clues for situations like this is that you would only have one to three direct reports, and that you will spend a lot of time hands-on in the code or other engineering activities.) The critical difference in a situation like this is that managers handle people problems, leads delegate their people problems back to their manager. If your role is mislabeled as manager, then you really should make your autistic co-worker your boss's problem. If that doesn't work, you should get reassigned or find a job elsewhere.