Let’s
stipulate from the outset that programmers are allowed to be
quirky. Expected to be eccentric. But we’re not talking about
the idiosyncratically intelligent or the interestingly
offbeat. We’re talking about the insufferable egotist who
can’t or won’t Play Nice.
The syndrome often is found
in someone like this: a young and brilliant software developer
who lives and breathes IT. A true geek, “Hal” spends a lot of
work time in techie chat rooms engaged in in-depth UNIX
conversations, sharing code and discussing programming
challenges. Despite his inclination to partake in on-the-job
recreation, Hal is a prolific and productive programmer.
So far, so good. Just another proud member of the hacker
tribe, right? But unfortunately, Hal has another side. He
makes rude and disparaging comments about his coworkers. If he
doesn’t like a project, he’ll let it slide. In particular, he
resists the drudgery of correcting or upgrading “someone
else’s ugly program.”
Hal also challenges managerial
authority and expresses his contempt for his position. He
tosses out statements like, “I could be making $200 an hour
doing security work,” and makes other muscle-flexing gestures
to show that he can do what he wants, when he wants.
Liz Rosenberg, IT director for Driehaus Capital
Management [driehaus.com], an
investment management firm in Chicago, recalls the Hal-type
she managed a few years ago. “He seemed to feel that he was
this all-knowing programming god,” she says. Brilliant but
bratty, though, because for every technical problem he solved,
he created a personnel problem for the team.
Like Hal
and like most wizards, prima donnas really do have talent and
a true love of IT. But, the prima donna combines this passion
and expertise with arrogance or lack of concern for others.
With Hal, it was constant complaining and carping. Other
symptoms of prima donna syndrome include an obsessive desire
for control, the attitude that the world revolves around them,
and the conviction that the regular rules don’t apply to them.
Control freaks Ed
Wojchiehowski, CIO of Menasha Corporation [menasha.com], a
conglomerate of manufacturing and services companies
headquartered in Neenah, Wisc., recalls an individual who
created a very innovative logistics software package.
Impressed, Wojchiehowski asked the programmer to work with
others on the team to expand and modify the package to make
it, oh, actually useable to the corporation.
But the
programmer, call him “Spock,” refused to share information
with other programmers. Spock claimed his innovation was too
complicated to explain and that by the time he was done
explaining, he could have changed the program.
Wojchiehowski concluded Spock’s real agenda was
control. “Prima donnas hold back information or work 80 hours
a week so they don’t have to share information with anybody,”
the CIO says. “I’ve discovered in many cases, it’s almost
physically painful for them to give it up.”
All about me At other times, prima
donnas give the impression that they believe the world and the
project revolves around them. Early in the beginnings of
Perseus Development Corp., [perseusdevelopment.com],
a provider of Web-based survey software and services in
Braintree, Mass., Jeffrey Henning, president of the software
division, was managing a developer who took the attitude of,
“I’m the most important person in the company, and without me,
you couldn’t exist.” “Angela” refused to help other
programmers with their work, yet expected them to drop their
work to help her.
This developer was very valuable:
She’d written most of the early versions of the company’s
products. “Nevertheless, she was close to being more trouble
than she was worth,” Henning says. Her exclusive focus on her
own needs was a constant obstacle for the department.
“The term ’prima donna’ comes from a difficult leading
woman soloist in an opera,” Henning reflects. “I think
‘soloist’ is a key word. A lot of prima donnas act like
soloists – they don’t work well with the team, and they think
their voice is the most important.”
Beyond the rules Some prima
donnas behave as though ordinary rules, such as work
schedules, don’t apply to them. Andy Andretta, a senior
partner with Daprex [daprex.com], a software
evaluation firm in Stamford, Conn., recalls a prima donna who
found just showing up to work regularly a problem. The
employee, who held a second-level support position for a
software product, often worked magic fixing bugs – when he was
there. “But,” as Andretta points out, “he’s not too valuable
if he’s not there, which was quite a lot.”
The
situation only deteriorated as the manager continued to
accommodate the delinquent, Andretta says. To complicate
matters, the prima donna had a shrewd sense of timing and
organizational politics. Like the Lone Ranger, he’d ride in
just in time to play the hero in emergencies and take the
credit. “He’d put the bow on the package,” Andretta
says.
When the manager finally decided he’d tolerated
enough shenanigans, he confronted a loss of face and
credibility with his superiors. Why? Because he had to tell
upper management: ‘I want to get rid of the most talented
person I’ve got.’ And his bosses thought he’d lost his mind.
“They’re very smart,” Andretta says of prima donnas.
“And they know who their audience is – upper management – and
they play to them very well.”
Seeing it from the prima donna’s
perspective The trick for the IT manager is that
some of these charges could also be made, to a lesser extent,
against positive, contributing employees. For example, playing
games or spending time in techie chatrooms is common and can
help many programmers to be more productive. As Peter Seebach,
a member of the technical staff of BSDI.com, a firm providing
Internet infrastructure-grade systems, software and solutions
in Berkeley, Calif., writes at his Web site “The Care and
Feeding of Your Hacker” [http://web.demigod.org/~zak/geek/hack.shtml],
“Hackers, writers and painters all need some amount of time to
spend ‘percolating,’ that is, doing something else to let
their subconscious work on a problem.”
Menasha’s
Wojchiehowski agrees that this kind of putzing around while
searching for an idea is perfectly acceptable. “I don’t worry
if they’re playing a game,” he says. “And, I don’t have any
problem with walking into somebody’s office and finding them
with their feet on their desk staring at the ceiling. They may
be thinking about the problem.”
It’s also true that the
best programmers’ drive for excellence can leave them
understandably curt when others seem less committed. Eric
Haddan, a self-described “recovering prima donna,” has been
frustrated when working with team members who seem more
motivated by opportunism than a true love of programming. “The
market is flooded with a bunch of people who just took some
classes, but they’re not really into it,” says Haddan, a
software development manager for eSynch Corp. [esynch.com], a Tustin,
Calif., firm which provides video delivery tools, streaming
media services, and software utilities. “They have a degree
and they’ve heard the money’s good.”
As for the charge
of “arrogance or rudeness,” some hackers argue that it’s just
as big a failing for others to be too tender or defensive. “I
used to be a lot meaner to co-workers than I am now,” Seebach,
the hacker translator, reveals. “People say, ‘They worked hard
on it, so don’t trash it,’ but on the other hand, would you
like to drive over a bridge with the assurance that people
worked hard on it? Or do you want to know they got it right? A
complete refusal to acknowledge either side of that
constitutes failing to play well with others.”
Signs that they’re going
prima So how do you tell the difference between
someone who’s just creative and frustrated and someone who’s
suffering from a bad case of prima donna syndrome? The true
prima donna, according to managers, won’t work with you or for
you. Andretta believes that prima donna syndrome is marked by
denial. “They do not accept the fact that they are wrong,” he
says. “It’s not them, it’s everyone else.”
As a result,
a prima donna often leaves havoc in his wake. Not least is the
damage to morale. Seeing someone else, no matter how talented,
disregard the rules that others must follow can be dismaying
to employees who are working hard and playing by the book.
“Once you start with favoritism you turn good people sour,”
Daprex’s Andretta contends. “It’s never worth
it.”
Besides seeing someone get away with murder,
colleagues may wind up doing the prima donna’s work, which
really causes resentment. In Andretta’s situation, other
employees often had to pick up the work of the AWOL
programmer, delaying the completion of their own assignments.
“It affected our work load and morale,” Andretta recalls.
CIO Wojchiehowski points out other hazards. The
controlling prima donna who holds onto information will
eventually move on – leaving others to figure out what the
blazes they were doing. Not surprisingly, such an event can
delay or even doom projects completely. In either case, the
company loses face with its clients. “It’s just negative in
all aspects,” he says.
Homing
in on that giant ego If you’ve determined that
you’ve got a true prima donna on your staff, the next step is
figuring out what to do. Sometimes you can make some
management moves that rein in the runaway ego. But you must
move quickly. “I can assure you, prima donnas only get worse
with time,” warns Wojchiehowski.
If the individual is
productive, but lacks elementary social skills, telecommuting
may be an option. In other cases, selective delegation and
assignments may give the individual enough challenge to keep
them out of too much trouble. The best programmers, prima
donnas or not, dislike repetitive tasks. Designing prototypes,
for example, can be a good assignment for many of these very
bright individuals. But Henning stresses that they are best
assigned to prototypes, not actual products. “Products,” he
points out, “require team input.”
Former prima donna
Haddan suggests keeping a regular flow of applicants coming in
for interviews. In other words, keep the feet of difficult
techies to the fire. “If you do find someone good, move her in
and start weeding out the bad ones. I am willing to bet you
would have to do this only one time,” he says. “If the
attitude persists, repeat the process.”
Straight talk express,
tech-style But, sooner rather than later, the
employee will have to be confronted directly. Perseus’ Henning
had been on the verge of firing Angela, but gave the situation
one last try with a blunt performance review. He catalogued
and congratulated her strengths and also described explicitly
where her performance was failing. The review seemed to help
Angela settle down. “I think part of her behavior was
insecurity,” Henning says. “She was afraid that she wasn’t
really valued.”
Angela’s successful turnaround appears
to be rare, however. In the end, most managers aren’t
optimistic about salvaging prima donnas. Instead, they
aggressively rid their staffs of them as quickly as possible.
“I’m a strong believer in people and am willing to invest in
their development,” Wojchiehowski explains. “But, frankly, as
soon as I understand that it’s a prima donna situation, I work
to eliminate it. You work with those who are team players. And
those who aren’t, well, in the most loving manner, you help
them exit.”
Daprex’s Andretta dismisses the idea that a
prima donna’s talent makes the extra grief worthwhile. “It
doesn’t matter how smart they are, they will hurt you,” he
warns. “And, the smarter they are, the more they can hurt
you.” He believes that it’s better to invest in bright –
but not brilliant – people and train them to be more
productive. “You can buy talent,” he says. “Personality, by
which I mean a good attitude, really can’t be bought. I’ll
take a team player any day.”