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If you are working for me, my expectation is that you will treat everybody (both on my team and not) with professionalism and respect, even if you feel you aren

If you are working for me, my expectation is that you will treat everybody (both on my team and not) with professionalism and respect, even if you feel you aren't getting enough respect from others[1]. Even if you are doing that, if you are continually negative and surely (e.g. not quite grouchy, but certainly not pleasant), your tenure on my team will be short[2]. Negativity spreads like a cancer until it destroys morale on a team, and I won't let somebody on my team be the carcinogen, no matter how "amazing" you are at coding. I take these things very seriously because I've been on teams that self-destructed over them. Even if you are a "10x" developer, if you are making the rest of the team "0.1x" developers, you are not providing me with value. If you are being grouchy, negative, surely or rude because you see yourself as a 10x developer so you are justified in acting however you want, you are welcome to go back to pre-school where that behavior is expected. 1. I also expect others to treat my team with respect and will fight to the death for my team to be respected as such, but, in the end, I have less direct control over that. 2. Of course I will try to resolve the issue through communication and managing (you know, my job if you are on my team). Some people are receptive; some people are not.

codegeek 14y ago
Could only upvote once. Well said. There are lot of people who still do not understand the importance of team work and personally for me, it is never cliched. Your line "Even if you are a "10x" developer, if you are making the rest of the team "0.1x" developers, you are not providing me with value" hit the nail on the head.
freework 14y ago
What kind of person turns into a "0.1x" developer because of another person's grumpiness? Seem to me, those are the ones who should be fired.
- untog 14y ago
  Sometimes it's out of your control. In a previous job, I worked with a "grumpy" developer who alienated every department we worked with, because he would be rude on the phone, terse in e-mails and generally unpleasant. As a result, the department developed a reputation for being unhelpful, and people communicated with us as little as possible. That definitely had an impact on my performance.
- BryantD 14y ago
  If you believe that unsupportive management can affect your productivity, surely unsupportive/hostile peers can do the same thing?
- SoftwareMaven 14y ago
  An example: "good" engineer thinks management are a bunch of idiots, leading him to constantly criticize and question decisions. This criticizing is done amongst the team, leading the entire team to question management and, therefore, the direction of the product. Now, instead of doing their best work, they are doing the minimum required to not get fired. I've seen this happen. The engineer sowing the poison was complaining that management wasn't hiring enough engineers, even though the product was "profitable". He never considered that the analysis had been done that the product would not be any more profitable by cranking out more features and would, in all likelihood, be less profitable. As a result, other engineers picked up on the meme and significantly reduced their efforts. After all, who is going to give their best efforts if management is just going to be stupid and waste it? So maybe 0.1x is a bit of an exaggeration, but I can live with that.

codegeek 14y ago

Could only upvote once. Well said. There are lot of people who still do not understand the importance of team work and personally for me, it is never cliched. Your line "Even if you are a "10x" developer, if you are making the rest of the team "0.1x" developers, you are not providing me with value" hit the nail on the head.

freework 14y ago

What kind of person turns into a "0.1x" developer because of another person's grumpiness? Seem to me, those are the ones who should be fired.

untog 14y ago
Sometimes it's out of your control. In a previous job, I worked with a "grumpy" developer who alienated every department we worked with, because he would be rude on the phone, terse in e-mails and generally unpleasant. As a result, the department developed a reputation for being unhelpful, and people communicated with us as little as possible. That definitely had an impact on my performance.
BryantD 14y ago
If you believe that unsupportive management can affect your productivity, surely unsupportive/hostile peers can do the same thing?
SoftwareMaven 14y ago
An example: "good" engineer thinks management are a bunch of idiots, leading him to constantly criticize and question decisions. This criticizing is done amongst the team, leading the entire team to question management and, therefore, the direction of the product. Now, instead of doing their best work, they are doing the minimum required to not get fired. I've seen this happen. The engineer sowing the poison was complaining that management wasn't hiring enough engineers, even though the product was "profitable". He never considered that the analysis had been done that the product would not be any more profitable by cranking out more features and would, in all likelihood, be less profitable. As a result, other engineers picked up on the meme and significantly reduced their efforts. After all, who is going to give their best efforts if management is just going to be stupid and waste it? So maybe 0.1x is a bit of an exaggeration, but I can live with that.