Being asked to give feedback on a colleague who I think is useless

vorbis

Unsure as to what the expected approach to this would be. Our company does a 360 style feedback approach where you co workers give feedback on you.

The guy in question is a senior software engineer yet has been very poor on the current project. He was actually moved off the project last week mainly I suspect due to lack of performance. Personality wise he's grand.

Obviously I wouldn't gain anything from tearing strips off him. However it does annoy me that my rank is software engineer and I'm after having to rewrite 80% of his sections in the project. What's the best approach to the feedback?

seamus

Who's asking for it and will the guy see it?

Rather than tearing strips off him just give your honest, factual opinion. Detail places where you've had to pick up his slack and places where you think he's excessively weak. Try to include some good points, but if you think he's crap, be honest IMO.

ntlbell

keep it factual and profesional

in our 360's you see everyone's thoughts but not the names

and you think he's ok to get on with him etc so you can balance it up with that

leeroybrown

As Seamus on this one. Honest factual feedback will do more good for the company, the team you work in and and most likely him too. The one caveat is that you'll need to weigh up the possibility of the system being flawed and it coming back to bite you.

Rebel021

I have seen this 360 feedback ruin peoples reputation from spiteful co workers, don't agree with it myself.

MG

Damn him with faint praise. Praise his timekeeping in the evenings, his dress sense or his neat desk or something

doolox

I was once in a unfortunate position to have my work stolen from me and used by another worker to gain credit from the management.
If,as you assert, you have to correct 80% of his code, make sure this work is archived and traceable as your work. Report it and get credit for it before he does.
Draw up a list of as many alterations you can prove you did and present that to the requestor of the 360 degree feedback.
Present provable facts pointing to your obligation to correct his mistakes.
Attack the process not the person.
If you have facts, data and proof your case is strong and will sell itself.
If you don't then you may be accused of being jealous and ignored.
From now on record everything you have to do to correct his mistakes, enlist the help of fellow workers in this and slowly build up your case.

Business, especially now, is no place for misplaced compassion and mercy.

Mrs OBumble

Even if the system is supposed to be anonymous, assume that this may fail: he may see what you wrote, or may just be able to work out that it was you from the content.

So, as others have said, be professional and factual.

Also, try and focus on things you think he could change to get better, and things that his boss could say.
(eg No point giving feedback that if someone was taller they'd be better at the job .. 'cos they can't change it, even though it might be true).

Maybe focus on strengths that would get him transferred to working away from you? (eg "was superb at performance-testing on the XXX project".

CSC

The key with giving candid feedback is to keep it professional and stick to facts and situations. Don't make it personal.

Highsider

I'm glad i don't work in a job like that.

CSC

In a job where work mates give each other feedback?

dudara

360 feedback is usually anonymous - use it as a chance to make your thoughts on your colleague known. Be honest and factual, don't make it personal. If you have some positive to say, then say it. Make it into positive criticism.

luckat

Interesting question, and interesting answers. I suppose how you act must be affected by who you think your answers will help and how.

Is there any particular reason why his work isn't up to standard, and is there any way the rest of the team can help him to improve it?

Firetrap

I think you should be honest. If you've had to carry your workmate, he needs to be told. If not, things will carry on as usual and you will get more annoyed at him. At least this way he will have to pull his socks up. Just be careful how you phrase your feedback so it's not directly traceable back to you.

bullpost

Unless its a very big company his performance will be known and therefore you need to be honest so it doesn't look like you're protecting someone else.

artful_codger

give him good feedback, why do the managers job for them? to hell with the Stasi culture of informing on each other.

vorbis

OP here, I went ahead with giving honest feedback. I kept everything factual and used words like "struggled". I tried to be positive in the sense that his skillset might be better suited to other projects and mentioned that he was a good team worker. Nevertheless my appraisal of his performance on the project was as bad as these kind of reviews could get.

The review process was done about 2 weeks ago. I'm just after finding out today that they've laid him off!! I'm definitely feeling like a c**t. Never thought they would do that. I expected him to be put on another project. I probably did contribute to them making this decision which is not a nice feeling.

Sleipnir

vorbis wrote: »

The review process was done about 2 weeks ago. I'm just after finding out today that they've laid him off!! I'm definitely feeling like a c**t. Never thought they would do that. I expected him to be put on another project. I probably did contribute to them making this decision which is not a nice feeling.

Oooooohhhhh shhhhhhit........:o

chalad07

Not your fault at all mate. The whole idea behind 360 is that he's reviewed from all possible angles - his juniors, his seniors and his peers. Alot more weight will naturally be given to his boss's opinion. Your feedback probably confirmed what they thought and no more.

It looks like cutbacks were needed, so if he didnt go surely someone that was actually performing well may have been at risk,

You're not responsible for this guy not being up to the task, and you didnt make the decision. Dont worry about it,

(poor guy all the same)

leeroybrown

vorbis wrote: »

The review process was done about 2 weeks ago. I'm just after finding out today that they've laid him off!! I'm definitely feeling like a c**t. Never thought they would do that. I expected him to be put on another project. I probably did contribute to them making this decision which is not a nice feeling.

I'd guess that there are a few other people in the company feeling a bit awkward about giving accurate feedback too but if the place is well run then it could easily just have been a case of confirming management's view of him. It might have reflected quite badly on you if you gave false feedback in this situation.

In my opinion, useless employees have no right to be protected by their co-workers.

artful_codger

don't worry, Karma has a way of catching up with people, and if the company is full of people like you, then you'll be knifed in the back too.

now relax, have a pint, and watch one of those nature documentaries where the pack of animals round on the weak or injured one and mercilessly kill it to reduce competition.

leeroybrown

Don't listen to this fool. After we weed out the useless we'll go back for those who hide them and put the rest of our jobs in danger!

vorbis

Turns out there's been a fair few other people let go as well so it wasn't targeted per se.

doolox

The modern economy and the modern way is for people to be obliged to work as smartly as they can and improve all the time. Otherwise their company goes bust and everyone loses their job.
The guy let go will go through a hard time but if he is any good at all he will retrain and get into something more suitable in the end.
If you hadn't given factual feedback you may have ended up looking foolish for not spotting his mistakes and ended up fired as well.
I was in that position 13 months ago working in a job I hated and not getting on at it. I took redundancy and left and am training full time in a similar area of work.
The difference is that I now have the time to perfect a new set of skills and won't be treated like a "push-button monkey" when I re-enter the workforce.
I hope to be the one on top next time around and I will show the same mercy that has been shown to me in the past..................
We are people of our times and these are individualistic, ruthless times. If we try to be anything else we will fall.
So cover your ass, work hard and report everything.

nyarlothothep

We all have a choice whether to participate in the cycles madness that are these individualistic ruthless times:rolleyes:

doolox

I think it was Woody Guthrie who said that.
We have no idea what people will do when their food and shelter are threatened by a careless neighbour. As times get harder you will see more informing and reporting going on, more time spent accounting for each minute of company time, more meaness and more tight control.
People will be better off self-employed as the illusion of a "permanent" job becomes apparent.
Payments will be delayed but after a while people will look for weekly or even daily, on-time pay for their work, "cash on the barrelhead" will be the new mantra for those lucky enough to have the bargaining power to command it.
Credit cards and other financial illusions will be consigned to the trashcan as debt will be too expensive to service for ordinary people.
The luxury of choice in the economic environment we find ourselves in is for the rich.

leeroybrown

For me it's got absolutely nothing to do with recession. If you work in a job where skills and competencies are required there is no room for useless co-workers. Plain and simple. Everyone doesn't have to be a faultless genius but they do need to have a base level of competence to do their job. If you're getting a sizeable pay packet to do a skilled job you need to have the skills to do it. Would you accept a pilot or doctor who wasn't up to their job? Maybe if the guy who was laid off hadn't been hidden in his company through the good times he'd have been forced to improve his skills and wouldn't be unemployed now.

PCPhoto

OP - I think you did the right thing,

I recently (this week) decided that I was no longer going to cover the guy that I worked with - I explained to my boss on several occasions over the last year or two that I didnt think the guy was physically able to do the job (he's about 30yrs older than me) ....... the guy was bullying me into doing the lions share of the work and when I highlighted this to the boss he claimed I was allowing myself to be bullied - NOT ANYMORE !!!

(granted my boss offered me more money and asked me if he should fire my co-worker ...albeit at the last minute..... bad management in my opinion - asking me what he should do !!!)

I did at one point tell my co-worker that I didnt think he was physically able to do the job - needless to say he erupted.....but then.... I made the decision ....time to QUIT.....if I cant have a safe environment to work - I dont want to do the job if its causing me too much stress !!!

shoegirl

Oh yes, I am familiar with this. I've had donkeys years of ending up working with people who bulls**t til the cows come home but actually were not very competent.

However 360 degree is a tricky one.
Be factual, be honest. As one person suggested, what is not said is often far more powerful that what is. Praising unimportant and ineffectual things will nicely gloss over your lack of impression.

However I would make it known somehow that you are doing his work. I'm in a similar position where I've a colleague who effectively works for me without directly reporting to me. He basically does the passive-aggressive thing and doesn't really play along.

The only thing I suggest is put everything in writing with this colleague, cc in your managers for emails, make sure its very clear that you have to do his work. I cannot delegate anything to this colleague as the work somehow gets subtly "altered" in such a way that either drags it out to take 10 times the length of time, or sometimes becomes a total mess. This is why I make sure my managers are aware. Strangely enough, he also comes in at whatever time he feels like, goes home early, take 1.5 hour plus lunch breaks and strangely enough, somehow manages to add a couple of hours per day to his timesheet (obviously nobody has looked at his swipe-ins and outs).

The reality is that these things are noticed, and generally eventually they do come to the surface when push comes to shove.

shoegirl

Don't really have great sympathy for your colleague as he probably knew what he was doing. Its terribly manipulative to perform badly and then somehow "blame" others for criticizing your subpar work.

At the end of the day, these kind of passive-aggressive co-workers are terribly good at dumping on others, don't believe for 5 minutes he wouldn't have stabbed you in he back if the roles were reversed, with these people, my experience of them is that they do this when under threat. Reality is, you got to work within the parameters of a team and make their goals your own. If you cannot do that, then you really must question why you are there in the first place.

Sadly, I think the tiger economy protected too many of these people for so long, politeness will not teach people to learn from mistakes.