Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I'm a manager of an autistic colleague. We've worked together for a couple of years and generally have a strong professional relationship and I've tried to learn more about this person as an individual. In the past there have been challenges with attendance at meetings or when items need to happen at short notice this person finds it challenging to adapt which I understand can be part of certain autistic diagnoses. This has resulted in lost time and momentum on projects and also some resentment from other colleagues who are required to communicate in a more fluid manner.
I spoke to HR and they have suggested we need to come up with a plan of reasonable adjustments to their working pattern and expectations. Does anyone know where to begin with this? This person is the single point of knowledge for a few topics so we can't just move the project responsibilities on to others, they need to sit with them but the lack of flexibility is really difficult at some points.
Any help would be useful
NAS88372 said:This person is the single point of knowledge for a few topics so we can't just move the project responsibilities on to others, they need to sit with them but the lack of flexibility is really difficult at some points.
How about asking them how it could work better?
If they need to work on projects and they need more notice and planning to be able to bring their skills, knowledge and abilities then up your project planning game and plan ahead better.
Give them the notice they need by structuring your projects in line with best proactive (Prince2 for example) so there are less unknowns and reactive elements.
Development methodologies like AGILE are probably best left to those who can deal with the constant change, but it sounds like your colleague is not going to be one of these.
Using Best Practice methodoliogies (Prince2 and ITIL for example) has benefits on a wide range of fronts in spite of the admin overhead, and it will raise your credibility with customers / colleagues in the long run.
That would be my recommendation.
Hi Iain, really appreciate the recommendations. We work in Agile methodology and generally this works well, its only when things need to change at short notice that they don't and this causes friction. The person in question has been asked and not come up with really any suggestions. Its a tough one. I'll look into prince 2 and ITIL as well. thank you
If you are doing development then AGILE may not be a compatible methodology with the way your colleague works. They need more predictability for meetings (possibly not for the content of the meetings though) so you may want to consider scheduling meetings on a regular basis rather than ad-hoc so you can call on your colleagues skills in these pre-planned events.
Other ad-hoc meetings can still be held but without your colleagues presence unless they feel up for it.
Prince2 tends to work best with big projects (eg office moves, new system design and implementation etc) rather than development itself. It is very structured so can be too cumbersome for rapidly evolving work like app developent where the goal posts keep changing.
ITIL is primarily for the whole lifecycle of systems and is used most often for support, and it is a case of you use the elements you need for your environment and requirements.