Smart and Lazy

I have been working as a structural consultant for a few years now. While it's less than a lifetime, its been long enough to see multiple rounds of new hires, fires, and quitters. Something that I've observed is that people can be loosely classified as one of four types of workers.

1. Smart and Hardworking.
2. Smart and Lazy.
3. Stupid and Hardworking.
4. Stupid and Lazy.

On the surface, Smart and Hardworking employees are the manager's ideal candidate. Of course everyone wants a smart and hardworking employee, right? Maybe not... Don't get me wrong, these people are incredibly valuable. They'll take on complex projects, work through problems methodically, and deliver quality results. But they also tend to become single points of failure. Smart and Hardworking workers also have a tendency to say yes to everything. They'll take on that rush project, stay late to fix someone else's mistake, and somehow make it work. This sounds great until you realize they're enabling bad planning and covering up systemic problems. I've seen these workers burn out spectacularly, and when they do, they take institutional knowledge with them and leaving a gaping hole in production.

The Smart and Lazy workers, meanwhile, force you to build better systems. A Smart and Lazy worker will find low hanging fruit in your workflows, and automate them away. This worker doesn't want to do menial tasks. They'll spend the time upfront writing a script to avoid repetitive manual work. These workers are your secret weapon for process improvement, though they'll drive you crazy with their apparent lack of urgency on routine tasks.

The Stupid and Hardworking employee is where things get dangerous. This person will work 60-hour weeks with genuine enthusiasm, but they're working without thinking. These are usually the guys with the best output, but it only works when they are put on routine tasks and kept away from the edge cases. Management loves their work ethic, which makes them particularly hard to deal with.

Stupid and Lazy workers are at least predictable. They do the bare minimum, make obvious mistakes, and everyone knows where they stand. In consulting, these are the people who submit calculations with glaring errors and shrug when you point them out. They're not trying to impress anyone, which almost makes them easier to manage than Class 3. You know exactly what you're getting.

Worker classification isn't just about individual performance - it's about how each type affects the broader system. Smart and Hardworking workers can accidentally create dependencies and mask problems. Smart and Lazy workers expose inefficiencies and drive innovation. Stupid and Hardworking workers can be genuinely dangerous if left unchecked. And Stupid and Lazy workers, while unproductive, at least don't pretend to be something they're not. Understanding these dynamics has changed how I approach team composition. You need some Smart and Hardworking people to handle complex, one-off challenges. But you also need Smart and Lazy people to question why you're doing things the hard way. The Stupid and Hardworking workers need careful supervision and clear procedures. And the Stupid and Lazy ones? Well, sometimes they just need to go.