5 Whys is a blog about technical leadership in the software world.

Exclude a team member – and you’re an idiot

Don’t exclude people in your team. It’s important that all people in your team are treated as equals and with respect. It may feel like a “duh” moment, but people get offended, deeply if they are left out of the loop.

Also, what kind of message does this send to the rest of the team?

“It’s OK – you can ignore or exclude that person too!”

If you have a team member that you find it hard to deal with, the last thing you want to do is exclude them from important discussions, team standup meetings, or even lunch.

You will only be making it worse.

Be brave and confront your fear of getting that person on board. Whatever your problem is with them, remember it is your problem with them. you  have to solve it, because no one will do it magically for you.

No, firing is almost never the right answer. Firing someone means you’ve given up on yourself about growing that person and making them the dev that you want  them to be. You get to fire people after at least 4 months of trying. Make that your hard line. Stick by it.

In those months – you will make that person part of the team, and teach them (if you need to) how to act as part of the team. You excluding them from the team activities (even one or two every once in a while) just helps them get more entrenched in their belief that they should be different and not act as part of the team.

Scrum vs. Kanban attitudes

Video – Code Leaders and Beautiful Teams