I see dead minds part 2



  • I wrote about a certain colleague a while back that had been running by hand a script that should have been automated months ago. I had to automate this while he was gone.

    Anyway I made the necessary changes to the script and set it to run this Monday. So I came in today to check the results. The new entries didn't show up on the webpage so I checked the logs; the SQL INSERT commands had run perfectly. 

    What the hell?

    I take a look at the database and it all clicks into place. A while back we had added a couple of extra columns which needed to be filled for an entry to show up. I had told this "developer" to update his script. And he did. On the production server.

    I've spent my time making changes to an outdated copy that doesn't work because he couldn't be bothered to add the changes to subversion. And now I have to add his changes to source control because he's on vacation.

    One of these days I'm gonna walk into this office with a sawed-off shotgun...

     



  • Do the current development standards require the use of subversion? I'd start keeping a log of all his screwups, both to cover your ass and to document how much time and money he's wasting the company.



  • One good way to get management to notice that someone is not using mandatory source control is to intentionally deploy something over something they changed directly in production, thus obliterating their changes (be nice and privately take a copy first). When stuff breaks, you respond to management that you released from the respository; who is making changes directly in prod and why, and why aren't they buying it back into source control? Then take your saved copy, merge and re-deploy to save the day.

    While there may be extenuating circumstances necessitating an emergency patch directly to prod, there is never an excuse to not put it back into the repository.

     


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