Firing somebody is hard. It's uncomfortable,
It feels mean, and in some ways it can feel like an admission of failure,
not just for the person being fired, but for the person doing the
firing, the one who is supposed to lead the team and hold it together.
But as harsh as it sounds, ripping that band-aid off early is often the best thing you can do
(CarboHydroM - Penguin Cap)
Whether you're an indie developer, or just working on a project for school, if somebody on the team is not working out,
It's actually better for everyone,
yourself, your team and the person being let go
If you fire them early, rather than letting things drag on with the hope that things will change. I know that sounds rough
But I have seen too many small teams die, just because they're hesitant to let someone go, especially if that's someone's a friend.
Imagine you have one year to ship your game and
instead of firing someone after the first month, when it's already clear that they're going to be a problem,
You keep giving them another chance, and kicking the can further and further down the road
But then two more months later, your whole team has had it with this person and either they mutiny and
demand you get rid of this person,
or it just becomes clear that you have to but instead of losing eight point three percent of your project time
Now you've spent a full quarter of your development with a team running not at full efficiency and with an
underperforming team member most teams never recover from that sort of setback
and this is
Compounded by the fact that the later you bring on somebody new to fill that spot the harder doing so becomes the longer it's going
To take to get them up to speed. In our hypothetical
Scenario instead of just having one month of spaghetti code or broken art assets for your new hire to untangle now
There's three and in the meantime the rest of the project has moved forward too
So there's more of everything else for them to get up to speed on
Risking your project success and your team's future just because it's really hard to let someone go is downright irresponsible.
Now this isn't to say that you should never give somebody a chance to improve
You absolutely should let somebody who's struggling know that there's a problem
Let them know as early as you can and explain what they need to do to fix it
but don't downplay the consequences that will come if things don't improve. Being fired should never come as a surprise
But you can't put off starting that process. Each day
You delay, the further your team's morale will drop. The further their productivity will drop. And the more resentment will build and
Morale on an Indie project is hugely
important. As much as I would like to say that we can always get everything done without ever having to crunch,
sometimes on a small team especially if you're new to game development and stumbling into a lot of those beginner pitfalls as you go
Passion is what's going to carry that project through you can't afford to lose that esprit,
decor that's going to make everyone want to pull together on long nights
I mean chances are a lot of the folks on your team could be making a lot more money working on some other job
So maintaining morale is crucial. If you have one person who's dragging the project down by not firing them
You're basically choosing to prioritize that one person who is failing the team over all the other people who are pouring their hearts into this
project. Worse still, you're jeopardizing those people's hard work
They are all making real sacrifices for that project
And you're denying them the chance to have the best
Possible version of their work seen. Heck, by not wanting to fire anybody you may end up denying the rest of the team the chance
To get their work seen at all
I know how tempting it is to keep giving the person failing another chance, just out of kindness
I know it's easy to let yourself find excuses to not make that hard call
But if you are faced with this difficult decision, think about the rest of your employees they deserve that kindness, too
they deserve a good work environment and a chance at success and
The truth is though you may not be aware of it letting somebody go
Early rather than keeping them in a job where they're clearly
Struggling is often the kindest thing you can do. For one thing the very fact that they're struggling enough for you to consider firing them
Probably means that they're not happy being there either,
after all nobody enjoys
Struggling at a job that they clearly can't do, or being a part of a team that they clearly don't fit in with but on
top of that if you wait to fire somebody and just let the rest of your team quietly
Stew for months once things hit a breaking point
Friendships will end. If you let someone go when you first notice that they're a problem, you'll often find everybody wishing them well and telling
Them that they hope they find a team that fits them better
But if a person even without real realizing it, has been making your team's life hell for months there's going to be none of that
These are those bad breakups sort of situations that end
friendships, and leave people with bitter feelings for a long long time and you don't want to do that to anybody on your team?
So I know it's harsh, but firing early is often the best thing you can do in a bad situation.
Sometimes the person you're letting go will even express their relief when you do. Because they were feeling so much stress trying to perform a
job that one way or another they just couldn't.
They won't have to keep going to work each day feeling like they're letting the team down and if you're a project lead you owe it
To your team to all the people who are putting their hearts and souls into the work, to ensure that the world gets to see
the best possible version of their work. If you jeopardize that. If you risk the success of that project
Just because you felt weird about letting someone go, you're doing your team a disservice
Fire early as hard as it is it is often the kindest thing you can do. See you next week.
(End Credits)