how would you deal with this coworker?

[nageov3t]

just been mulling over the problem in my head and not exactly sure how (if at all) to approach my boss about it.

one of my coworkers took on a special project... nothing really mission-critical, but it might save us 10 minutes a day and our boss gave him his blessing to complete it. it's been like 4 months, though, and I'm starting to get the impression that he's delaying completing it and spending more time hanging out around the office than actually working on it. as long as he's working on it, though, he's decided to place himself above the rest of the department. phones can be ringing off the hook and he can be standing around chatting with someone in another department, but as soon as someone says something to him, it's suddenly "sorry, gotta code."

meanwhile, we're short staffed because of a hiring freeze and it seems like the department is fraying at the seams. any suggestions? or anyone know any data centers that are hiring? lol

 

[Kirby]

Steal his source code, finish it, and give it to boss for a raise.

 

[Hyperblaze]

he'd never be able to pull that off where I work.

Does he have meetings/progress reports on the project he's working on?

Is he the project manager? or is someone else the project manager?

 

[rezinn]

How long should it take to complete this task?

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: Hyperblaze
he'd never be able to pull that off where I work.

Does he have meetings/progress reports on the project he's working on?

Is he the project manager? or is someone else the project manager?

no project manager. normally this would be something taken care of our actual development department, the guys who design all of our internal stuff, but he had already started it when the higher ups got wind. at this point, I'd be pretty happy if they just transfered him to dev so my department could hire a replacement.

he meets with our boss about it every couple weeks, but couldn't even hazard to guess at what goes on inside them.

my attitude is kinda like, because it's something that will only be used within the department and because it's not something that's mission critical, it should be one of those things you work on when there's nothing else to do rather than something taking up 99% of your time.

 

[bctbct]

stay out of it, if your manager has a brain he will see this and take aprropriate action.

 

[quakefiend420]

Originally posted by: bctbct
stay out of it, if your manager has a brain he will see this and take aprropriate action.

http://www.csharp-architect.com/images/boss.gif

 

[shoRunner]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: Hyperblaze
he'd never be able to pull that off where I work.

Does he have meetings/progress reports on the project he's working on?

Is he the project manager? or is someone else the project manager?

no project manager. normally this would be something taken care of our actual development department, the guys who design all of our internal stuff, but he had already started it when the higher ups got wind. at this point, I'd be pretty happy if they just transfered him to dev so my department could hire a replacement.

he meets with our boss about it every couple weeks, but couldn't even hazard to guess at what goes on inside them.

my attitude is kinda like, because it's something that will only be used within the department and because it's not something that's mission critical, it should be one of those things you work on when there's nothing else to do rather than something taking up 99% of your time.

oh I see what you did there...

 

[takeru]

i worked with someone like that before. really depends on your boss' relations to both of you on if doing anything is possible.

 

[brtspears2]

I worked with someone just like that. He got employee of the quarter and a promotion for his special project. I had to brunt listening to his "hey check out this new video on break.com! for months!" since he had so much free time on his hands since the bosses thought he should spend more time on the project.

 

[IGBT]

..progress report?? ETA to beta test? nothings open ended except death.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Sounds like he gets it easy.

I'm on special projects like that too sometimes as I'm one of the few in the company that can code and the only one in our department. I still have to answer the phone, do tickets, etc. I end up only really working on it if I'm on the late shift, at night.

I'm also planing on coding other stuff we can use but it will be less "official". One day it will be done, I'll show to the rest of our department, and we'll start using it. It's a CMS that will make it easier for us to fetch/add/update information on our customers. For example, a customer calls from some site and their net is down. We look it up, and know what the dsl phone number is, so we can troubleshoot. Rather then have all this info spread all over the place it will be organized in a fully searchable system.

I had proposed it to my boss like over a year ago and was told "we're getting sharepoint" well we still did not get sharepoint, and I gave up on it, so I'll code something myself.

 

[Number1]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2268960&enterthread=y

 

[Red Squirrel]

LOL

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: bctbct
stay out of it, if your manager has a brain he will see this and take aprropriate action.

Second the motion....keep your head down and look busy.

 

[LumbergTech]

Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

Originally posted by: bctbct
stay out of it, if your manager has a brain he will see this and take aprropriate action.

Second the motion....keep your head down and look busy.

we're all just bricks in the wall

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

The problem is that, unless it is clear what he is doing and how much time it should take, the only way to prove he is wasting time is basically to do it in less time.

You can complain to your boss, but it will still be his word against yours on how much time it will take.

 

[Baked]

Are you jealous he's sucking the boss's cock? Sounds like you are.

 

[KingGheedora]

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Sounds like he gets it easy.

I'm on special projects like that too sometimes as I'm one of the few in the company that can code and the only one in our department. I still have to answer the phone, do tickets, etc. I end up only really working on it if I'm on the late shift, at night.

I'm also planing on coding other stuff we can use but it will be less "official". One day it will be done, I'll show to the rest of our department, and we'll start using it. It's a CMS that will make it easier for us to fetch/add/update information on our customers. For example, a customer calls from some site and their net is down. We look it up, and know what the dsl phone number is, so we can troubleshoot. Rather then have all this info spread all over the place it will be organized in a fully searchable system.

I had proposed it to my boss like over a year ago and was told "we're getting sharepoint" well we still did not get sharepoint, and I gave up on it, so I'll code something myself.

Honestly, why code this? Isn't there free third party stuff you can use for this?For example, a wiki? You don't even have to install wiki software onto any servers, just pay for a hosted wiki.