Tech Team Dead Weight a.k.a. Lutz (opens in new tab)

If you've worked in tech and have any degree of actual talent, you have run into the following scenario: You are on a team and that team has at least one member that isn't pulling their weight. The reasons why generally range from a lack of work ethic to a lack of talent. Regardless that person can't seem to get themselves fired. Why is that?

These situations are cultural tests of the organizations they exist inside of and their collective cultural immune systems. If the organization is unable to excise these tumors, they become malignant.

My advice to anyone caught in such a scenario is to assess the situation. If your organization is unable to make tough but necessary decisions about this situation, take it as an honest reflection of reality and expect an object the motion to remain in motion without directional change.

If you don't find relief after trying to create change, there are two options: stay in place and accept it, or vote with your feet.