The Fall from Grace of a Rock Star
Today I overheard a disagreement between one of the developers here and Rock Star, whom I've discussed before. I have to say that I tried not to listen, and did a reasonably effective job - given that it went on for over 3 hours. Then there was an hour in their manager's office. This disagreement took up the entire morning of these two guys day. Amazing.
The one guy came and told me what it was all about afterward, and I have to say I'm not in the least bit surprised. It was turf wars - plain and simple. The Rock Star wanted to be involved in all decisions relating to a project he's on - but is not the owner of. That, I have always found, is the key distinction. If you own it, then you are responsible for it, and then you're the one expected to make it work. But if you're just on a project, then the guy who owns it, is the one to make decisions like who is involved in what decisions.
In this case, while Rock Star wanted to be the owner, he wasn't, and the manager of the two developers pointed that out. This did not please the Rock Star, but then that's the reason the disagreement between the two took all morning. What seems to have happened is the real fall from grace for the Rock Star. He's now just Veruca - the kid from 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' - "I want it NOW!". He's exceptionally focused on getting what he wants, and getting people to give him what he wants, even if they have no intention of doing what he wants them to do.
So the concerns I had about his work are history. There's no need to worry any longer. His manager has a good understanding of how he works, what his requests are, and hopefully, how to handle him. I still think he can make good contributions to the Shop, I think he needs to understand that not everything is going to be given to him how he wants it, when he wants it. There are other concerns at play, limitations in the hardware, production issues, that he's simply not looking at - but needs to. Hopefully, he'll stick around long enough to season into a good developer.