Thanks for the insightful response! Firing people is always hard and it is a last resort. If you’ve never had to do it, it’s awful. You’re inflicting on someone one of the worst days of their life. No matter how much they have to go, it’s impossible to forget that basic fact.

At least you make room to be able to give someone else one of their best days: “you got the job!”

Unfortunately Rick rejected months of overtures by leadership. He refused to take time off or allow any work to be delegated. He also repeatedly rejected attempts to introduce free open source frameworks to replace hard-to-maintain bespoke tools. Including the security framework as you mentioned.

Mind you, this wasn’t some low-level code that had to be optimized for scale. It was business logic code. It didn’t have to be engineered as much as it needed to be architected, but he over-engineered anyway.

I believe he was, and likely still is, genuinely talented. He was the most talented individual we had. He also started grabbing other people’s work because he believed he could do it better. He wasn’t wrong- he could probably have done any one person’s work better. But he couldn’t do everyone else’s work better.

The embattlement came to be because he painted himself into a corner. Having hoarded everything to himself, he couldn’t lose face by admitting that he’d screwed up and taken on too much. That’s where the protecting-his-myth came in.

Another poster blamed management. I agree that the situation that came about was also his manager’s fault. He never should have been allowed to take on so much. If it gives comfort to anyone else reading this, the manager went first because ultimately management bears responsibility, always.

I was brought onto the team after that, as a hail-mary pass. I’d already rescued a few foundering efforts. I’d also successfully coached other talent into working better with their teams.

We tried to give Rick time and guidance to pull himself back from the brink- almost a year. He couldn’t do it. He’d burned too many bridges. If I’d spent the last couple years telling all my colleagues they were too dumb to work with me I probably couldn’t have pulled a 180 either.

But certainly it’s a cautionary tale for all involved. On an interpersonal level, I liked Rick. I wish we’d intervened in time and I hope he landed on his feet.