Like herding cats

Instead of paying him by the hour, pay him for RESULTS!!

Manage his performance, not his hours worked.

One thing I have found that works is to set smaller goals with prescribed time limits on a daily basis with this individual. Check up on him frequently and at the end of the time, be sure to sit down with him and review what he has done. Compliment the successes and record the times he wanders off track. Another thing that might work is to require him to keep a time log of his activities. Close supervision is required until he gets the message. You should also be aware that although he is personable and skilled he might not be the right fit for this job.
Good luck

Points well put. While it does sound like the guy may have some form of ADD, it also sounds like this guy is trying to do the very best job he can and to create the very best products possible, not just something that is mediocre. It's too bad the company is not trying to listen to his ideas and reasonings, I'd think the clients would be impressed if you went to them and said "hey, if we do it this way, these problems are going to happen, but if we do it this way you'll get a better product" and then at least attempt to renegotiate with them. If your company can't appreciate someone who takes pride in their work and wants to put out the best product possible then send the guy my way.

I've read all the other advice and have concluded that too many people are trying to relive the late
sixties and seventies. All that touchy feely crap is not going to solve your problem. The fact that this guy has been around so long indicates he could be someone's relative or worse the payment of a favor. Either that or it's because he's so personable and likeable he has become the company
pet. Your company is not a charitable institution.
More importantly it is there to produce products or services as efficiently and timely as possible
thus making profits on the investment of the owners or investors. A certain portion of these profits are retained to improve the company for both investors and employees benefit. This often translates to better working conditions and salary and wage increases. However, rationalizations aside you probably are not coming out of this smelling like a rose, no matter how you handle it.
Check with HR. Surely to God the company has a performance review program and while you are at it find out if the company's medical insurance covers psychiatric or psychological counselling. At the end of the first ninty days of supervising
this guy you will have a firm idea of his knowledge, skills and work habits and you should
have all the documentation to establish your position. Call him in for a performance review and show him all the negative documentation and explain that these are things he needs to improve.
Be firm but not harsh. Show him his positive qualities and explain why they don't offset the
negative ones. Tell him that with a negative review such as the one you are giving, he is on probation and will be reviewed again in a further 90 days. Give him some reassurance by telling him you are not looking for miracles but a demonstrable effort on his part to improve and some tangible improvement. Tell him your door is open for discussion if he feels the need but whatever you do, do not get overly friendly with the guy. Try to be helpful but remain aloof and detached. Suggest he check out couselling but make sure he understands he will have to use his insurance plan to pay for it. The company didn't make him into the way he is and neither did you. It is sad that this situation has developed into what it has, since it probably could have been averted a long time ago, if only someone had had the balls to do something about it. However, he's a big boy now and you can't be expected to change him like a baby and powder his bum. There is an excellent possibility he will hate your guts but you are not being paid to be liked. You are being paid to manage, so get on with it. Make sure he signs or initials each and evey piece of documentation as you are probably going to be called on it later as proof of adequate warning in the event it becomes necessary to terminate him. If you could record the reviw session so much
the better but be sure you inform him on tape and get him to acknowledge this on the tape. The guy might fool you and pull up his socks and get with the program. Maybe he might even end up liking you
if your next review is positive. It's probably not
likely as his behavior patterns have become ingrained but as I said it could turn out that all
he needed was a firm hand and some direction.
Whatever you do remain cool and aloof. With a guy
like this any display of friendliness beyond the
normal curtesies of the workplace would probably be taken as permission to backslide into his old patterns. You need to keep a tight rein on a guy
like this. Having them around can play absolute
hell with discipline amongst the other staff. They
figure he's getting away with murder and they end
up having to carry his load and make up for his short comings. The strange thing is they'll still
love him but resent the hell out of you for permitting it to go on. You are a manager. You do not need to be loved but you do need to be respected. Handle the situation properly and you
will win the respect and if you're looking for love look to your bosses and your paycheck. They
should love you for effectively cleaning up the
load of crap that they permitted to exist. Whether
you end up tying a can to this guy or turning him around you will have demonstrated your abilities in a manner which should be reflected in your bonus or paycheck and possibly a promotion.
I worked in satellite construction in aerospace.
Every satellite is built with a specific launch
window in mind and to miss a launch is not to be
even considered. No excuses are acceptble and the
penalties could crush a company. Any manager with a missed launch date on his resume might as well throw in the towel and take up burger flipping at
Mickey D's and God help you if they ask you what you've been doing for the last ten years and why you left. Even Mickey D has standards to which they adhere. At the company I was working at I somehow became the go to guy when a project fell more than six weeks behind schedule. I would be pulled off whatever on schedule project I was working on and get handed a load of crap. After The first one, I informed my bosses I would never take one on again unless I was granted hiring and firing authorization. I also demanded budget control. I must have impressed them because they granted my requests and dropped another load in my lap. I stayed at that company for five very exciting years and only left because I grew to hate the taste of Maalox and Tums. A lot of my time was spent on ranting and raving and stamplng my feet at a bunch of technical prima donnas. There are no techs like aerospace techs and the satellite guys are, depending on your point of view, either the worst of the lot or the cream of the crop. Did my people love me; I doubt it. There were times I wasn't too fond of myself but as sure as God made little green apples my bosses must have loved me because they promoted me over people with more job seniority and were paying me six figures before I reached thirty. I've never doubted my abilitities to get the job done and was surprised to learn from an employee that I was respected because I was usually as good at the job as they were but also that they were sometimes physically afraid of me. I had to laugh since I haven't been in a fist fight since grade 2 and any violence I've come close to took place when I was in the army or played football in college. I asked him if he had ever heard me threaten anyone with violence and he said no, so I asked him what made him feel threatened. While I am six foot tall I would not consider myself a particularly imposing specimen. He laughed an said it was nothing I said or did that made him feel threatened but rather what I didn't do. He told me he always knew when I was angry about something because I would become very quiet and would remove my glasses and direct a very cold hard stare at the offender or perhaps the one who had conveyed the bad news. In fact, he said, I wouldn't even raise my voice but apparently sitting waiting for me to explode was a bit unnerving. I asked if he had ever seen me blow up and he said no but the standing joke was I needed new waste baskets every few months and everybody worried about what would happen if there were no baskets around. I was never aware of it until recently but I guess a touch of fear can be an effective management tool. 3 Rules :
(1) Never chastise anyone, no matter the provocation, in public.
(2) Never chastise anyone when you are angry as you may be chastising the wrong party or say something which you will regret later.
(3) In the event you must terminate someone try to do it with compassion and not out of spite or
malice. Remember you are turning the individual's
life and the lives of his family upside down and who knows you could be in for the same thing one
day. A little compassion won't kill you. If perchance you ever come across an SOB who enjoys
firing people, depending on which side of the desk you are on, either quit or get rid of him.
Garbage like that nobody needs.

I've read all the other advice and have concluded that too many people are trying to relive the late
sixties and seventies. All that touchy feely crap is not going to solve your problem. The fact that this guy has been around so long indicates he could be someone's relative or worse the payment of a favor. Either that or it's because he's so personable and likeable he has become the company
pet. Your company is not a charitable institution.
More importantly it is there to produce products or services as efficiently and timely as possible
thus making profits on the investment of the owners or investors. A certain portion of these profits are retained to improve the company for both investors and employees benefit. This often translates to better working conditions and salary and wage increases. However, rationalizations aside you probably are not coming out of this smelling like a rose, no matter how you handle it.
Check with HR. Surely to God the company has a performance review program and while you are at it find out if the company's medical insurance covers psychiatric or psychological counselling. At the end of the first ninty days of supervising
this guy you will have a firm idea of his knowledge, skills and work habits and you should
have all the documentation to establish your position. Call him in for a performance review and show him all the negative documentation and explain that these are things he needs to improve.
Be firm but not harsh. Show him his positive qualities and explain why they don't offset the
negative ones. Tell him that with a negative review such as the one you are giving, he is on probation and will be reviewed again in a further 90 days. Give him some reassurance by telling him you are not looking for miracles but a demonstrable effort on his part to improve and some tangible improvement. Tell him your door is open for discussion if he feels the need but whatever you do, do not get overly friendly with the guy. Try to be helpful but remain aloof and detached. Suggest he check out couselling but make sure he understands he will have to use his insurance plan to pay for it. The company didn't make him into the way he is and neither did you. It is sad that this situation has developed into what it has, since it probably could have been averted a long time ago, if only someone had had the balls to do something about it. However, he's a big boy now and you can't be expected to change him like a baby and powder his bum. There is an excellent possibility he will hate your guts but you are not being paid to be liked. You are being paid to manage, so get on with it. Make sure he signs or initials each and evey piece of documentation as you are probably going to be called on it later as proof of adequate warning in the event it becomes necessary to terminate him. If you could record the reviw session so much
the better but be sure you inform him on tape and get him to acknowledge this on the tape. The guy might fool you and pull up his socks and get with the program. Maybe he might even end up liking you
if your next review is positive. It's probably not
likely as his behavior patterns have become ingrained but as I said it could turn out that all
he needed was a firm hand and some direction.
Whatever you do remain cool and aloof. With a guy
like this any display of friendliness beyond the
normal curtesies of the workplace would probably be taken as permission to backslide into his old patterns. You need to keep a tight rein on a guy
like this. Having them around can play absolute
hell with discipline amongst the other staff. They
figure he's getting away with murder and they end
up having to carry his load and make up for his short comings. The strange thing is they'll still
love him but resent the hell out of you for permitting it to go on. You are a manager. You do not need to be loved but you do need to be respected. Handle the situation properly and you
will win the respect and if you're looking for love look to your bosses and your paycheck. They
should love you for effectively cleaning up the
load of crap that they permitted to exist. Whether
you end up tying a can to this guy or turning him around you will have demonstrated your abilities in a manner which should be reflected in your bonus or paycheck and possibly a promotion.
I worked in satellite construction in aerospace.
Every satellite is built with a specific launch
window in mind and to miss a launch is not to be
even considered. No excuses are acceptble and the
penalties could crush a company. Any manager with a missed launch date on his resume might as well throw in the towel and take up burger flipping at
Mickey D's and God help you if they ask you what you've been doing for the last ten years and why you left. Even Mickey D has standards to which they adhere. At the company I was working at I somehow became the go to guy when a project fell more than six weeks behind schedule. I would be pulled off whatever on schedule project I was working on and get handed a load of crap. After The first one, I informed my bosses I would never take one on again unless I was granted hiring and firing authorization. I also demanded budget control. I must have impressed them because they granted my requests and dropped another load in my lap. I stayed at that company for five very exciting years and only left because I grew to hate the taste of Maalox and Tums. A lot of my time was spent on ranting and raving and stamplng my feet at a bunch of technical prima donnas. There are no techs like aerospace techs and the satellite guys are, depending on your point of view, either the worst of the lot or the cream of the crop. Did my people love me; I doubt it. There were times I wasn't too fond of myself but as sure as God made little green apples my bosses must have loved me because they promoted me over people with more job seniority and were paying me six figures before I reached thirty. I've never doubted my abilitities to get the job done and was surprised to learn from an employee that I was respected because I was usually as good at the job as they were but also that they were sometimes physically afraid of me. I had to laugh since I haven't been in a fist fight since grade 2 and any violence I've come close to took place when I was in the army or played football in college. I asked him if he had ever heard me threaten anyone with violence and he said no, so I asked him what made him feel threatened. While I am six foot tall I would not consider myself a particularly imposing specimen. He laughed an said it was nothing I said or did that made him feel threatened but rather what I didn't do. He told me he always knew when I was angry about something because I would become very quiet and would remove my glasses and direct a very cold hard stare at the offender or perhaps the one who had conveyed the bad news. In fact, he said, I wouldn't even raise my voice but apparently sitting waiting for me to explode was a bit unnerving. I asked if he had ever seen me blow up and he said no but the standing joke was I needed new waste baskets every few months and everybody worried about what would happen if there were no baskets around. I was never aware of it until recently but I guess a touch of fear can be an effective management tool. 3 Rules :
(1) Never chastise anyone, no matter the provocation, in public.
(2) Never chastise anyone when you are angry as you may be chastising the wrong party or say something which you will regret later.
(3) In the event you must terminate someone try to do it with compassion and not out of spite or
malice. Remember you are turning the individual's
life and the lives of his family upside down and who knows you could be in for the same thing one
day. A little compassion won't kill you. If perchance you ever come across an SOB who enjoys
firing people, depending on which side of the desk you are on, either quit or get rid of him.
Garbage like that nobody needs.

Sadly, this might actually be the case. Perhaps the conformist, robotic nature of your company culture simply isn't the place for this guy.
I would much rather work as this employee does than simply "do what is asked" as if someone were pressing buttons on my console. Assuming that the in disease (AADD/ADHD, in this case) is the cause would be jumping to conclusions; especially now, when the majority of ADD/ADHD diagnoses in children are coming under serious scientific fire from the medical research community.

The simple truth may be that your guy simply finds no challenge or real satisfaction in the work assigned, and embellishes his work to maintain that element in his life; using it to add a personal flavor to everything he does.

There also may be a disconnect in the way he views the work and the result. The work and its quality is obviously important to him. Explaining the value of results and involving him in the rewards for timely completion of each project may help to focus his efforts.

It's been more than a month since the original post.
Let us know if you solved the problem, and if so, how?

Noone is a perfect fit for anything, and this issue consistently crops up in management in one form or another.

this may be your hardest task ever, so I would simplify it for myself, I would treat him like any other high risk project. I would set milestones weekly if necessary and have him report to them, and track his perfomance on a scale of 1-5. (1 low 5 High) By doing this you can deomnstrate to both the employee and management where he is going off track and how you are working to keep him on track. I have had my fair share of these types of employees good luck

talk to him in a private & friendly matter, so that he'll be aware of what he is doing. there is nothing wrong if you keep the communication lines open.

As you say, he's pretty bright - so let him figure things out. For all we know, he may just be trying to show his skills to all.

If your project is still able to stick to timelines, you could try this...
1. Sit with him and define his tasks
2. Make sure those are accomplished on time
3. If he writes code (for example), ensure that his work is baselined and versioned clearly - so the team can differentiate between the necessary and the extras
4. Approve no overtime for the extra work - if you can identify that. At the very least if he's met the goals in defined time that should be good enough to deny overtime.

I'm assuming this person is not very experienced, and recently out of college. With this outline, over time, he should realise how a team works and what is wasteful effort.

Then look at the positive side...maybe one of his 'creative' bursts results in something the customer would be delighted with!