On: Ask HN: How to manage developers who aren't very good?

Have you asked why they spend time setting up VMs they don't need?

A good first step is stop saying, "people like this." Perhaps try starting with the five whys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys

What's wrong with saying "people like this"? Seems like a pretty clear delineation between proactive, pragmatic developers, and developers who aren't?

I'm not sure you've established the problem is the individual developers. Of course you can't provide all relevant information for diagnosing the issue in an HN post. I'm just making general suggestions.

I recommend that you rule out other possible explanations: (1) A former manager told them to always use a VM. (2) A CS professor taught them to do this and no one has instructed them to do otherwise at your company.

Coming back with the same question multiple times is problematic, but maybe you didn't offer a sufficiently clear explanation. Next time you explain something say, "Do you understand?" or "Was that clear?" Then you'll be able to say, "people like this" next time they ask the question.