How I tend to see people
Over the years, I've worked with many different kinds of employees. Some were very strong technically but difficult to work with. Others were clearly weaker, but pleasant, engaged, and easy to collaborate with.
How I react to those differences is shaped by how I see people. I've come to accept that I naturally wear pink glasses. I'm often described as being too positive, and that's probably accurate. Seeing what people could become is how I operate by default.
Because I tend to see people positively, negativity is usually a late signal for me. When I start seeing things in a negative way, it means the situation is already quite bad.
That same lens carries into how I lead.
When I manage or coach someone, I tend to approach it the same way I see people. I support their goals, try to connect them to what the business needs, and walk with them along that path. For a long time, I didn't fully realize that this way of working doesn't always translate beyond me.
When growth and perception diverge
Other leaders don't manage the same way I do. Other developers don't see the same potential I see. And they're not wrong.
This gap is where things start to get complicated. In focusing on someone's growth, I can miss how they're perceived. Someone can be motivated and genuinely trying, but if the people around them don't see progress, that effort can land flat, or even be interpreted the wrong way.
As a leader, you also influence what people try to optimize for. If you encourage someone to take more space, speak up more, or get involved in decisions, they will try. But that doesn't mean their peers are ready to see them differently.
Perception moves slowly. When someone has been around for a while, coworkers often already have a fixed idea of what that person is capable of. When behavior starts to change, it can be questioned, dismissed, or attributed to the wrong reasons.
The risk of encouraging change too early
This is usually the point where I start to doubt myself. When I ask someone to step forward before the room is ready to see them differently, I can unintentionally create risk while trying to support growth.
Part of that doubt comes from how strongly I believe people grow. I struggle with the idea that a junior or intermediate developer wouldn't improve after a few years in the same environment. When that doesn't happen, I tend to look at context first.
Was the support there? Was the situation right?
Some people grow more slowly. Some are comfortable where they are and don't want more responsibility. I think that can be fine, as long as it still fits what the team needs.
Holding on longer than others would
The issue is that this fit rarely stays stable. The company changes. The work changes. And when that happens, stagnation becomes harder to ignore.
That's usually when my instinct kicks in again. I try to compensate by investing more time. I'll spend days explaining, walking through ideas, and helping someone reach a solution instead of giving it to them. Some people need only a small push. Others need much more hands-on support.
Not everyone is willing to invest that kind of time. I've often heard that someone isn't good enough, or that they've been around too long to still struggle. Those comments are hard for me to process, because they go against how I see people.
I do let people go when it's clear it's not working. But when I see someone trying, with the right attitude, I tend to hold on longer. I want to believe effort matters.
Re-examining past tradeoffs
Looking back, I can also see how I sometimes justified those decisions. We always had smaller, less interesting work to do. I told myself those roles made sense, that more senior developers could focus elsewhere.
With time, I started questioning that logic. Did we really need those roles, or did I create space to make my decision feel right? Could someone more experienced have done the work faster? Probably.
I don't think I was completely wrong. Finding people who are both skilled and easy to work with is rare. I've also seen very strong developers create so much friction that keeping them wasn't an option.
Still, there isn't a clean answer. The tension is deciding how long to keep investing in someone with the right attitude when their pace keeps frustrating the people around them.
Learning when optimism becomes a liability
This is where I still need to grow. When feedback keeps coming back, even from leaders I trust, I need to listen more carefully, even if I like the person and even if I believe they could become better.
Sometimes, removing the pink glasses is part of the job.
- Patrick