Thursday, August 23, 2007

Useless Micromanagement

We have a person on our current team who is the self-appointed team "worrier". They constantly ask/interrupt other team members to find out "what they are doing."  They make lists and lists and more lists but never actually work one of them. They think we should stay in the hot dank room we have all been working in through lunch rather than take a break (because they haven't worn themselves out worrying yet).

This type of person on a team is toxic. They pull down the flow, they sap the energy of the team. As best you can you need to find a busy task for them to do to keep them out of the hair of your producers. If you can you need to let them go. Unfortunately, they are often the boss.

At the very least identify these folks early on and come up with effective strategies to keep them occupied and isolated.

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