u/dmtsh

Hi all,

I need some advice and inspiration for a PIP.

Context: I am a product owner of a platform/devops team. I got a colleague assigned to my team with the idea that they will learn so that we can upskill them. The person came with 0 practical knowledge. Not even a clue how to create a new local branch for a git repository.

Our environment is quite stable (AWS EKS, stateless apps, no DB, all managed via IaC) meaning there is rarely some pure Ops (run) work required where I can throw them in the deep and let them work and learn. And the actual Change work we do is quite advanced for them, even after many months of hanging around.

Also, our team structure is distributed globally, meaning there is no one else in their location that they can follow, shadow and exchange with. At the very beginning they have been online classes to complete, so that they get the idea of our main tech stack.

For me, because of the time zone difference plus my own tasks, it is quite difficult to spend a lot of quality time with them and to bring them forward.

Now, their manager informed me that they plan to put the person on a PIP and need from me measurable tasks that can be executed from the person in question within the next month. My issue here is that:

• we don't have often repetitive tasks in the team, meaning there is rarely anything that I can show the person and then expect them to deliver it over and over again
• but if I throw at them a complicated enough task, I don't expect they will manage it without getting a lot of input from me, and without using a lot of AI which will mean that they won't understand what they are doing in the end

So, is there anyone here who could share any wisdom how to proceed with the PIP in such circumstances? Meaning how to set the PIP to be fair to the person and what type of tasks would you assign?