3 ms·

Thanks. That helped a lot. I really need to be honest with him.

• DanielStraight 17y ago
  You should be straightforward and honest, but you shouldn't judge him. You don't need to give him a list of his faults. Simply tell him, "It's not working out; I'm letting you go. Best of luck in the future." IF he asks for more detail, give it, but criticize his performance NOT him. Do not tell him what he is ("you're a software processes zealot"). That's for him to figure out. Do not asses his motivations (something like, "you don't seem to care about...") or his experience ("you've never shipped software before"). Assess strictly his performance. Period. Even if he asks you to assess him. It is not your place to judge who someone is, what their values are or what they would be good at. It's your job to assess whether they are doing what you hired them to do. On a further note, if this surprises him in any way, there's a deeper problem. Employees should know at all times whether they are living up to expectations. If he wasn't, he should have known and had a chance to fix it. Further, I agree this should be done in person, and another more important point, it should be done privately. Do not call him out in front of his coworkers. Give him a chance to leave quietly without embarrassment.