[joedrew]

Read this paper ("Set up to fail: How managers create their own poor performers"): http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=4...

The paper's basic tenet is that managers, by over-focusing on "poor performers", actually cause their poor performance by interfering with their work and putting them on performance improvement plans. Are there measurable differences between these people and your high performers in terms of output, or are you simply observing that to be so?

And listen to jonstewart. Being a manager is very different from being a programmer. Be humble and introspective, and work on becoming better at your craft.