Just Release It
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My former manager got transferred to manage a different project, but he still sits 10 feet from my desk, so I hear everything that goes on at his desk.
Apparently, their project had some nasty little bug that would cause the app server to crash - hard - near the end of one of the jobs. The business users wanted the features of that release immediately so they ignored his statement that there was a major stability problem and ordered him to "just release it" because "we'll worry about it if it happens in production". This guy doesn't have the spine to say no to them so he deployed it last night.
Well, the single development server is old and underpowered, so the job that caused the server to crash ran 8 hours before it went down. The 2 boxes in QA are faster and the job takes 4 hours. The 16 multi-core prod boxes finish the job in 10 minutes (don't get me started on the massive disparity). The problem that causes the crash typically occurred 95% of the way through the job. In other words, the app server crashes every 10 minutes in prod, requiring some developer to login and restart the server. When all the crashing started at around 4AM this morning, it hit the fan.
Naturally, this lead to a meeting with lots of finger pointing, mostly at my former boss. He knew it would happen and chose to let it happen, so he deserves it. Normally, I wouldn't care, but all that noise ten feet from my desk was distracting, so I walked in and suggested that perhaps the release should be rolled back until this can be resolved. But then we won't have access to the features we need! As opposed to the server being down and not having access to the features you had before this release?
I don't care how non-technical you are; if someone who is allegedly technical tells you it's going to bring your system down, you should listen!
These people are idiots to the n-th degree!
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Perhaps your former boss has already arranged his exit strategy, and decided to let the idiots get what they deserved? Of course, if he hasn't already done that, he's either brave, or so disillusioned that he doesn't care any more and decided 'fuck it.'
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"Hi, you know that car you designed? Well I'd like to add VTOL capabilities to it so I can fly over traffic jams. What do you mean you need a couple of years to perfect the design? Just bolt a couple of rockets on the damn thing. No, I need this by the end of the week. Stability issues? Just release it, we'll worry about it if it happens in production."
Then we all gather on a hill overlooking the highway and pass around the popcorn.
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@snoofle said:
@Cad Delworth said:
...exit strategy...
No, he's just a spineless fool.
I was going ti suggest that he let himself be overruled in order to make a point to the people who were demanding a release regardless of the problems. If your former boss had documented the release discussions it would aid to rope in business users who were making unrealistic requests.
However being a spineless fool brings a whole different set of motivations for his actions.
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@snoofle said:
This guy doesn't have the spine to say no to them so he deployed it last night.
The business partners may be clueless and non-technical, but the manager is the one being un-professionnal here. Not *knowing how to-* or *not daring to-* refuse something to a client leads nearly automatically to epic fails.@DOA said:
"Hi, you know that car you designed? Well I'd like to add VTOL capabilities to it so I can fly over traffic jams. What do you mean you need a couple of years to perfect the design? Just bolt a couple of rockets on the damn thing. No, I need this by the end of the week. Stability issues? Just release it, we'll worry about it if it happens in production."Then we all gather on a hill overlooking the highway and pass around the popcorn.
Thx for this hilarious image. Holy fuck...
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@DOA said:
"Hi, you know that car you designed? Well I'd like to add VTOL capabilities to it so I can fly over traffic jams. What do you mean you need a couple of years to perfect the design? Just bolt a couple of rockets on the damn thing. No, I need this by the end of the week. Stability issues? Just release it, we'll worry about it if it happens in production."
Then we all gather on a hill overlooking the highway and pass around the popcorn.
IMO, if you added actual VTOL capabilities (limited to traffic jams) to cars, it would be just as amusing to watch. Consider the skill of your average driver, add wings. Admittedly, they wouldn't be careening off into a cliff-face in homage to Wile E. Coyote, but to paraphrase a great man, "anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, anyone going faster than you is a maniac, and anyone hovering above your head in an escalade is an organ-donor."
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@toshir0 said:
Not *knowing how to-* or *not daring to-* refuse something to a client leads nearly automatically to epic fails.
The hardest thing in business, saying "No" at exactly the right time. *
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@HighlyPaidContractor said:
IMO, if you added actual VTOL capabilities (limited to traffic jams) to cars, it would be just as amusing to watch.
I'm a bit surprised Top Gear hasn't done this yet. They've done pretty much everything else, so far.
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@HighlyPaidContractor said:
" .. and anyone hovering above your head in an escalade is an organ-donor."
I'd suggest that if an Escalade was hovering above you then you are more likely to become the organ donor
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@b-redeker said:
The hardest thing in business, saying "No" at exactly the right time. *
Playing Poker with certain business people might be fun.
"I don't care if the other player has better cards. I already invested $fortune and I'm not going to give that up. It's a $fortune for crying out loud and I can't afford losing it. I'll just spend more money until I win."
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@OzPeter said:
@HighlyPaidContractor said:
" .. and anyone hovering above your head in an escalade is an organ-donor."
I'd suggest that if an Escalade was hovering above you then *you* are more likely to become the organ donorAnd I'll suggest that if that Escalade hovering above you suffers a hovering failure, your organs aren't going to be in a good shape for donation... (don't think there's much demand for pancake shaped organs)
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@millimeep said:
(don't think there's much demand for pancake shaped organs)
Nope! Having "a big heart" is about volume, not area.
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@millimeep said:
@OzPeter said:
@HighlyPaidContractor said:
" .. and anyone hovering above your head in an escalade is an organ-donor."
I'd suggest that if an Escalade was hovering above you then *you* are more likely to become the organ donorAnd I'll suggest that if that Escalade hovering above you suffers a hovering failure, your organs aren't going to be in a good shape for donation... (don't think there's much demand for pancake shaped organs)
I find it amusing that this question was asked a month ago.
What organ in a humans body is pancake shaped? - Answers
Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want
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@HighlyPaidContractor said:
I find it amusing that this question was asked a month ago.
What organ in a humans body is pancake shaped? - Answers
Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want
Obviously the pancrakeas.
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@millimeep said:
@OzPeter said:
@HighlyPaidContractor said:
" .. and anyone hovering above your head in an escalade is an organ-donor."
I'd suggest that if an Escalade was hovering above you then *you* are more likely to become the organ donorAnd I'll suggest that if that Escalade hovering above you suffers a hovering failure, your organs aren't going to be in a good shape for donation... (don't think there's much demand for pancake shaped organs)
It does make it easier to display honesty and integrity by wearing your heart on your sleeve.
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@b-redeker said:
@toshir0 said:
Not *knowing how to-* or *not daring to-* refuse something to a client leads nearly automatically to epic fails.
The hardest thing in business, saying "No" at exactly the right time. *
I think you can advise a customer in very strong terms not to do something stupid but it's not always easy to stop them. After all, they can always go to a competitor who will do what they ask. In an ideal world this would lead them to realise that you, by advising against the move, had both knowledge and integrity but is probably more likely to see them pour more money into the competitor's bank account and learn nothing.
Saying that, where I work we have a pretty good record of advising against the more disastrous impulses but you can only do so much.
