I have a developer on my staff that chronically overshoots deadlines, and estimates. On several projects the last week or two everyday I hear "It should be done by the end of the day". This developer does good work.
I have already spoke to him about his problems. He seems genuinely frustrated, and miffed about what to do to correct them.
My Questions are:
- What kinds of punishments for passing a deadline are effective?
- What ways can I coerce this employee to police his actions (time estimates, etc.,) himself?
UPDATE: Based on the responses; here's what I have figured out.
- Punishment is a bad idea.
- It is natural for an employee to be unable to fix estimating problems without intervention.
- Don't make deadlines unless there's company consequences (lost contract) for not being done by then.
- Utilize available methods (Agile, Joel's checklist) to help the developer estimate better.
Thanks for the links and information. Also thanks for updating my thinking.
I don't think the problem is that he is missing these deadlines.
I think he has a real problem in estimating the amount of time it will take to complete a task.
Have him start keeping a journal of what he says a task will take and how long it actually took him to complete the task. Eventually, this journal will become a sort of guide for him to create better estimates. Once he becomes better at estimating, he shouldn't feel as rushed or harried.