
Ask HN: How to talk to my manager about a coworker? - cr4pc0wrk
I&#x27;m a consultant in a team of 8 that is half internal developers and half consultants. We&#x27;re all fairly junior but one particular person has been empirically and consistently holding us back, or even sabotaging the project.<p>I&#x27;m talking about half-assed code, exaggerating or lying about completed work and overall technical debt.<p>The rest of the developers, (started with contractors, now even some internal) have noticed the source of delays, uncompleted tasks etc and we have always managed to work hard enough to fix what needs to be fixed in order to ship.<p>I don&#x27;t think that our manager is clueless. However, this developer seem to do barely enough and are socially nice enough so that the manager didn&#x27;t single them out. Instead the entire team gets a verbal talk about some delay or broken thing that reached production.<p>The structure is done in a way so that almost every feature has intertwined code from almost everyone and when a part of it fails it reflects bad on all of us.<p>I&#x27;m wondering what is the best way to approach this with the manager? How to have a discussion without throwing someone under the bus or looking like an attempt at deflecting blame?<p>(throw away for obvious reasons)
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ziddoap
Unfortunately sounds like a manager problem, not (just) a coworker problem.

If your manager has been unwilling to intervene up until this point, and is
only addressing the issue by addressing the entire group instead of the
culript... Talking to your manager is just going to put you in a worse off
position. In my opinion, you'd be sticking your neck out for little gain.

No matter how eloquently you say it, no matter how structured and logical your
arguments are... You're going to come across as both throwing someone under
the bus while simultaneously deflecting blame.

If I were you, I'd be more concerned about your manager than your coworker.
But thats just me.

~~~
cr4pc0wrk
So how do you suggest addressing this? Continue to cover and try to get them
to do less harm?

~~~
ziddoap
It's really hard to say as these situations are hugely complex and there's
only so much info I have to go on (and this is all in my experience anyways...
your mileage may vary, and I'm often wrong).

Putting myself in your shoes I see two options:

1) Simply do not address it. Do your work, day in and day out. Do a damn good
job of your work. Help out when able to, but don't stretch yourself thin to
try and rescue a project and don't try to cover up for someone else (and thus
taking responsibility in the end).

When your manager addresses the group you BOTH know they are addressing your
sole coworker -- so these group talks really don't matter and don't reflect on
you (given what you've said about your manager being resonable is true). Maybe
your manager just can't handle confrontation and thinks these group talks are
adequate to get the message to the lone coworker. If this is the case,
honestly just ignore the group chats and do a good job at the things within
your job description.

2) Instead of approaching it head-on as a "you need to manage better" or a
"you need to get rid of this person" problem, have you considered approaching
your manager and/or CEO for a management or mentorship position yourself? If
thats something your interested in, of course.

I whole-heartedly think that you SHOULD be able to approach your manager with
a situation like this. That's what they're supposed to be there for. But, in
my experience anyways, it never works out. You're either labled a snitch, a
suck-up, or reprimended for "overstepping your bounds".

In corporate life, I find it best to be VERY mindful of where my job duties
end. If your job duties don't include managing other staff members, I would
advise doing everything in your power to avoid "managing your manager", even
if justified. Unless it is outright sabotage, ignore it and do your duties to
the best of your ability. Smart managers will recognize you for it. Or, you
find out that you'd rather be working somewhere else.

~~~
ziddoap
Just to add...

If everyone in the office and even outside clients are not only noticing the
slowdown but also able to point at the root cause (your coworker), you really
don't need to stick your own neck out there to let them know something they
are aware of. It's already known. Let the situation come to fruition at it's
own pace.

