An anonymous reader writes: We have a problem with negative coders that are dragging the whole company down. I am sure that this is not a problem isolated just to us; so do any /.'ers have any useful advice to share with us on how to deal with these kinds of people/situations?
At our company we are attempting a rewrite a major part of our software, which is badly needed to bring us up to speed with current technology, failure to move in this direction within the next couple of years would ultimatley sink the company. A few employees have been assigned the task and have had a hard time getting the project done.
There are difficulties with the flow of information between the 3 coders, the project manager, a regional manager and the CEO. They constantly disagree between business requirements, functionality and deadlines. The coders are very negative and complain all the time, about everything. Management do not seem to help by having requirements that constantly change and a lack of critical decision making being made (according to the negative coders).
I do not know the source of the problems, but I do know that the overwhelming negative nature of the coders is running the project into the ground. One of the 3 developers and the original project manager have resigned because of the difficulty in dealing with the negative environment and the lack of progress. The current project manager is heading in the same general direction as his predecessor....becoming the scapegoat for the negative coders. The coders are far to valuable to get rid of, as they have far to much fundamental knowledge that the company cannot afford to loose.
I would be interested in hearing any advice that people have, and if anyone has similar experiences that they can share. Have you had a similar problem in the past? What did you do and what happened?
