Some development teams have a member that always saves the day, can handle any error and write a fix for it. I’m talking about the person you go to when you’re stuck with a logical programming issue.
These people are amazing and really can save the day.
But there is a pitfall. At least, it depends on the person. In this article I am calling the superhero the saviour who enjoys the attention of saving the day. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that(! don’t get me wrong here), it might be unhealthy for the team.
Unhealthy you say?
With unhealthy I’m trying to refer to the fact that the other people in a team are not growing if they can just dump issues at the superhero for him/her to save the day again. It’s just easy to let the superhero do the work and if the superhero enjoys the attention of ‘saving’, he/she will never refuse the additional work, which will eventually lead to problems for the superhero.
Team playing isn’t a one man show
Iron Man is a great superhero, but he’s not the best team player. I think it’s in the Avengers movie where you can clearly see how difficult it is for Iron Man to work together and how other team members are actually not enjoying his presence.
If you are the superhero in a team, try to encourage others to solve the issue by coaching them or giving a bit of direction. You can also get in touch with me.
If you are a team member ‘suffering’ from the superhero, try to talk to them and let them understand how this impacts you as a person and the team as a whole.