Day 1: How to deal with an incompetent lead dev

[sirja]

So today was my first day in a new contract working on the UI design team for a reasonably large company. In the interview, it was explained that the UI design of this project was failing miserably and the stakeholders are becoming extremely anxious, they were bringing someone with my expertise on a premium rate to get the sole failing aspect of the project back on track.

I was fairly excited about the gig as it is a perfect match for my skillset but the first day did not live up to my expectations. I arrived early on the first day to get the introductions and credentials out the way so could get started on the 'real work', I was introduced to the system by the project team, explained what it was for, the timelines and high-level functionality. It seemed to be a well thought out project and the projections of business benefit were modest but impressive, they then showed me the interface. The only way I can describe it was someone had loaded a car up with every paint off a Dulux colour chart and driven it into a wall, elements weren't aligned, 3 different fonts, different styles of button. It failed pretty much every usability test I could think of. I realised I had my work cut out.

I was then introduced to 'Head of UI design' and was instructed to work closely with him to get the project back on track to restore the stakeholders faith in the project, I pulled up a chair next to him and the the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hello, I'm RedSauce - the new UI developer"

Him (under his breath): "I don't see why we need another developer"

I looked at his HTML and he appeared to be struggling to align 2 divs horizontally.

Me: "I can rework that for you by putting a containing div round all that"...

Him: "no you can't because...."

He had realised that he had been found out after 2 months of blagging his way through his contract, but as he was (in theory) my superior so could make things very difficult for me so I had to approach this carefully and show him I could help do his job for him and both look good. So continued with:

me: "hey, how about we do a bit of pair programming and thrash this thing out"

Him: "no but thanks for the offer etc..."

Does anyone have any idea how i can deal with this level of incompetence, he refuses to listen to any of my suggestions, and as he has decided on all the styles and overall layout I am not able to do the job i was brought in for and fix this atrocity.

Take no brown stuff from him. You are the pro and you've been brought in to sort out his mess. He's got he's knickers in a twist. Tough. Not your problem. Get the PM involved if need be. If all else fails, then as a last resort get him one on one in a meeting room and give him a firm loud rendition of Ezekiel 25:17. It never fails

[zoco]

So today was my first day in a new contract working on the UI design team for a reasonably large company. In the interview, it was explained that the UI design of this project was failing miserably and the stakeholders are becoming extremely anxious, they were bringing someone with my expertise on a premium rate to get the sole failing aspect of the project back on track.

I was fairly excited about the gig as it is a perfect match for my skillset but the first day did not live up to my expectations. I arrived early on the first day to get the introductions and credentials out the way so could get started on the 'real work', I was introduced to the system by the project team, explained what it was for, the timelines and high-level functionality. It seemed to be a well thought out project and the projections of business benefit were modest but impressive, they then showed me the interface. The only way I can describe it was someone had loaded a car up with every paint off a Dulux colour chart and driven it into a wall, elements weren't aligned, 3 different fonts, different styles of button. It failed pretty much every usability test I could think of. I realised I had my work cut out.

I was then introduced to 'Head of UI design' and was instructed to work closely with him to get the project back on track to restore the stakeholders faith in the project, I pulled up a chair next to him and the the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hello, I'm RedSauce - the new UI developer"

Him (under his breath): "I don't see why we need another developer"

I looked at his HTML and he appeared to be struggling to align 2 divs horizontally.

Me: "I can rework that for you by putting a containing div round all that"...

Him: "no you can't because...."

He had realised that he had been found out after 2 months of blagging his way through his contract, but as he was (in theory) my superior so could make things very difficult for me so I had to approach this carefully and show him I could help do his job for him and both look good. So continued with:

me: "hey, how about we do a bit of pair programming and thrash this thing out"

Him: "no but thanks for the offer etc..."

Does anyone have any idea how i can deal with this level of incompetence, he refuses to listen to any of my suggestions, and as he has decided on all the styles and overall layout I am not able to do the job i was brought in for and fix this atrocity.

Your job, pal, is to sort out all the pretty stuff.

As for everything else, I do the jokes, ok?

[NotAllThere]

Come to an arrangement. You won't drop him in it, if he gives you part of his fee.

[vetran]

"Dropshadows lift the type off the page as if they are 3D. You probably don't even know how to do them."

yes bit of an arrogant twerp but quite funny.

[Pondlife]

"Dropshadows lift the type off the page as if they are 3D. You probably don't even know how to do them."

[Bellona]

Waiting for Zoco ........

My dilemma on what to watch during lunch is over

[pmeswani]

Simples. Don't come in the next day and when the client phones up, tell them the UI Head is a wonderful guy and is on top of his game and he doesn't need any help.

[russell]

So today was my first day in a new contract working on the UI design team for a reasonably large company. In the interview, it was explained that the UI design of this project was failing miserably and the stakeholders are becoming extremely anxious, they were bringing someone with my expertise on a premium rate to get the sole failing aspect of the project back on track.

I was fairly excited about the gig as it is a perfect match for my skillset but the first day did not live up to my expectations. I arrived early on the first day to get the introductions and credentials out the way so could get started on the 'real work', I was introduced to the system by the project team, explained what it was for, the timelines and high-level functionality. It seemed to be a well thought out project and the projections of business benefit were modest but impressive, they then showed me the interface. The only way I can describe it was someone had loaded a car up with every paint off a Dulux colour chart and driven it into a wall, elements weren't aligned, 3 different fonts, different styles of button. It failed pretty much every usability test I could think of. I realised I had my work cut out.

I was then introduced to 'Head of UI design' and was instructed to work closely with him to get the project back on track to restore the stakeholders faith in the project, I pulled up a chair next to him and the the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hello, I'm RedSauce - the new UI developer"

Him (under his breath): "I don't see why we need another developer"

I looked at his HTML and he appeared to be struggling to align 2 divs horizontally.

Me: "I can rework that for you by putting a containing div round all that"...

Him: "no you can't because...."

He had realised that he had been found out after 2 months of blagging his way through his contract, but as he was (in theory) my superior so could make things very difficult for me so I had to approach this carefully and show him I could help do his job for him and both look good. So continued with:

me: "hey, how about we do a bit of pair programming and thrash this thing out"

Him: "no but thanks for the offer etc..."

Does anyone have any idea how i can deal with this level of incompetence, he refuses to listen to any of my suggestions, and as he has decided on all the styles and overall layout I am not able to do the job i was brought in for and fix this atrocity.

Go to the person in charge and explain that he is clueless and you cannot work with him or you will walk. Anything less will result in a frustrating and failed project.

[Bunk]

You've got to get rid of him. Zoco Sorry, the 'UI dev', is clearly a blagger who's been on a gravy train but it's time to fix his mess and you can't do that with him still there.

[RedSauce]

So today was my first day in a new contract working on the UI design team for a reasonably large company. In the interview, it was explained that the UI design of this project was failing miserably and the stakeholders are becoming extremely anxious, they were bringing someone with my expertise on a premium rate to get the sole failing aspect of the project back on track.

I was fairly excited about the gig as it is a perfect match for my skillset but the first day did not live up to my expectations. I arrived early on the first day to get the introductions and credentials out the way so could get started on the 'real work', I was introduced to the system by the project team, explained what it was for, the timelines and high-level functionality. It seemed to be a well thought out project and the projections of business benefit were modest but impressive, they then showed me the interface. The only way I can describe it was someone had loaded a car up with every paint off a Dulux colour chart and driven it into a wall, elements weren't aligned, 3 different fonts, different styles of button. It failed pretty much every usability test I could think of. I realised I had my work cut out.

I was then introduced to 'Head of UI design' and was instructed to work closely with him to get the project back on track to restore the stakeholders faith in the project, I pulled up a chair next to him and the the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hello, I'm RedSauce - the new UI developer"

Him (under his breath): "I don't see why we need another developer"

I looked at his HTML and he appeared to be struggling to align 2 divs horizontally.

Me: "I can rework that for you by putting a containing div round all that"...

Him: "no you can't because...."

He had realised that he had been found out after 2 months of blagging his way through his contract, but as he was (in theory) my superior so could make things very difficult for me so I had to approach this carefully and show him I could help do his job for him and both look good. So continued with:

me: "hey, how about we do a bit of pair programming and thrash this thing out"

Him: "no but thanks for the offer etc..."

Does anyone have any idea how i can deal with this level of incompetence, he refuses to listen to any of my suggestions, and as he has decided on all the styles and overall layout I am not able to do the job i was brought in for and fix this atrocity.