Firing People

The February issue of CIO Magazine has an article by Michael Schrage that advises, "the most cost-effective way to dramatically improve your IT organization's implementation of a new system, app or upgrade is to make sure you fire the right person." Rather than taking the negative view of firing someone -- the disruption to a team, the emotional roller-coaster, etc., Schrage suggests that firing someone who's just a pain in the ass is a great boost morale and heighten concentration. Sometimes it's hard to fire that right person, because that person is incredibly valuable -- but if the cost to the team and productivity is also high, then having integrity to fire them and explain why you did so is even more valuable than the loss.