You're frustrated with your developer. But what if it's not their fault?
I've seen talented developers do terrible work — not because they didn't care, but because the system around them was broken.
Here's what a broken process looks like:
→ No clear requirements — they're guessing what you want and getting it wrong → Too many stakeholders with conflicting opinions and no final decision-maker → No code review process — mistakes compound because no one's catching them → No staging environment — every bug gets discovered in production → Scope changes via Slack at midnight — priorities shift daily with no documentation
Your developer isn't lazy. They're drowning in chaos.
I worked with a SaaS founder who was ready to fire his dev team.
Nothing was getting done. Quality was slipping. Morale was tanking.
We spent two days digging into their process. Here's what we found:
→ Four people (CEO, CTO, Head of Product, Lead Investor) could all change priorities → No project management tool — everything lived in Slack threads → No written specs — features were described in voice memos → No QA process — developers tested their own work → No release schedule — deploys happened "whenever it's ready"
The developers weren't the problem. The lack of structure was.
We implemented:
→ A single decision-maker for product (the CEO) → Written specs for every feature (even small ones) → A weekly sprint cycle with fixed scope → A staging environment for QA before production → Code reviews before every merge
Same team. Same developers. Completely different results.
Within two months, they shipped more than they had in the previous six.
Good developers do bad work in bad systems.
Before you fire someone, ask yourself:
→ Do they have clear requirements? → Do they have the tools they need? → Do they have support when they're stuck? → Do they have a process that protects quality?
If the answer is no, fix the process before blaming the person.
What's one process improvement that transformed your team's productivity?
#SoftwareDevelopment #ProcessImprovement #TechLeadership #TeamManagement #StartupAdvice
→ scopeforged.com
Philip Rehberger Founder, ScopeForged scopeforged.com
