What to do with star developers who don't document their work? [closed]

Answer 1

1. Get him to use automated execution-verification tools. (See my answer at "How to ask questions to an obsructionist?")

2. If he overcomplicates and does not use SCC, he is not an excellent developer -- these things are important parts of software engineering.

3. In the very unlikely event that he has some irreplaceable brilliance in areas like algorithms, assign him to work in that area, e.g., defining algorithms, and get a real programmer to do the coding.

4. Use static analysis code to understand and clean up his code.

Answer 2

"Hi Star Developer,

just a little informal heads-up to tell you that from next week, we'll be requiring documentation of code, and helpful commenting in the code - it's going to be company policy, and there'll be no exceptions"

From then on, you just deal with that failure the same as you would deal with a failure to turn up on time, a failure to stop goofing off during work, etc. Bottom line is if the boss says document, you document or you're not doing your job properly.

Answer 3

In my opinion somebody doing such stupid things as you have described above can't be a star developer! To me it seems like he intentionally makes things more complicated as they are, so that nobody else than himself can maintain the code. This makes himself more important than he really is! Talk to him. He has to change it! If he doesn't, replace him with a real star-developer!

I promise you, in even half a year he will not know how his own code works! Fire him and you can save a lot of time and money.

Answer 4

I agree with most people on this thread. One way to put him on the hot spot is to have Team Code Reviews.

For the first code review meeting choose code from a team member that is open and will accept the recommendations. The "star" developer will have the chance to see how the code review works and then you can schedule his code to be reviewed next. Give him some time to prepare for the next meeting and by then he should be at least commenting his code.

The intention of code reviews is not to put shame on people but rather to collaboratively identify issues and places for improvement, but it will be a good way to put the star developer on the hot seat.

Answer 5

Code documentation is over-rated. CVS training is easy.

A good class should reveal its purpose through its methods and properties.

Documenting the model outside of the application is also easier to flow and comprehend.

I would bring it to his attention, if you can't get it resolved looks like you will be losing a star developer.

Edit: Oops - used CSV instead of CVS, to many imports and i use svn heh.

Answer 6

Can the team be successful with out him? If so push the issue and refuse to accept any code that isn’t properly documented or doesn’t meet other standards. Hopefully this will get the point across but it might just make him angry and cause him to quit. If the team can’t be successful with out him then you’re out of luck until you can train a replacement up to his skill level which may not be worth the time and effort.