It's not done till you read their minds



  • I recently held a position as a C++ developer for a small company that did web design. They had an ISAPI dll that did some work for them that hadn't been updated for MANY years. I came in and did the normal research, refactor, fix routine. The hardest part was finding out what they REALLY wanted to change (It was left to the whim of someone who had no clue, gee, go figure). Anyway, I finally got a list of MUST fix, and a list of "would be nice" fixes. Because the primary emphasis was on the Must Fix list (which was really just one item), I got to work. After a month or two of pulling teeth to get information on how/why things were done the way they were, I created my own list of "Must Fix" that went along with it.

    Several months later, I finished through both of the Must Fix lists and started testing. Everything worked beautifully! Shortly thereafter I was called in to a meeting to explain why I didn't do what was asked. The meeting went something like this:

    Owner: Why isn't it doing everything requested

    Me: It is...you requested X, Y and Z...and they work

    Owner: That's not what "lead developer" says

    Me: (to "lead developer") What exactly isn't working???

    "lead developer": Well, we really wanted to change how it handled A, B and C. And since it's not done, the project isn't complete.

    Me: In our initial meetings, you said "It would be nice to change how it handles A, B and C, but we're not sure how we want to handle it yet". Am I to assume that there's been a decision on this and noone let me know about it???

    "lead developer": Well, no...we're still not sure how we want to handle it.

    Me: So what you're saying is that because I fixed the app to the way that was specified in the requirements, and you changed the requirements without telling me, AND you haven't even decided WHAT you want done, "I" didn't finish the project properly???

    "lead developer: <blank stares>

    Me: That's not how development works. You can make changes all you want, that's fine...but you don't come in after I'm finished and say "OH Yeah!"...list a bunch of stuff and then claim I didn't do it right the first time. That's about as stupid as having a contractor build a 2 bedroom house  and then when he's done, telling him "Yeah...ya know..I really wanted 6 bedrooms on 4 floors".

    Everyone else in the room chuckled when they heard it put that way.

    Even with that said, they decided to hire a project manager(who claimed to be a guru developer) to help "fix" all of the projects. After about a week, he finally asked me about the project. I started explaining it too him and I saw the beginning of a glazed over look in his eyes. I understood the look because the project has a lot of intricacies. So, I pulled out my hard copy of class diagrams and handed them to him and said, here...this will explain a lot more. He looked at me and said "What are these?" I replied, "Class Diagrams for the project". I got a blank stare. I then looked at him and said "uhhh...UML Class Diagrams...". Again...a blank stare. After a few moments of disbelief, he finally said "Oh well...I don't want this kind of detail, we'll talk more about it later".

    I quit the following week!



  • @Loradan said:

    Me: That's not how development works. You can make changes all you want, that's fine...but you don't come in after I'm finished and say "OH Yeah!"...list a bunch of stuff and then claim I didn't do it right the first time. That's about as stupid as having a contractor build a 2 bedroom house  and then when he's done, telling him "Yeah...ya know..I really wanted 6 bedrooms on 4 floors".

     

    Oh, you and your outdated waterfall development practices... If you were using an agile development cycle, this whole thing including reading the mind of your employer wouldn't be an issue. You are a product of the previous millenium.



  •  You should've problably stayed on and tried for the developer lead position ...



  • @cklam said:

     You should've problably stayed on and tried for the developer lead position ...

     It's funny you mention that. I actually spoke with the owner multiple times and explained to him how things should be done. I was never actually told "No, you can't have the position"...but I figured it wasn't going to be me when the new guy was hired :).

     As far as the waterfall methodology...I've recently signed up for a course taught by Yoda...I'm going to start practicing Jedi Agile Development :)



  • @Loradan said:

    Me: That's not how development works. You can make changes all you want, that's fine...but you don't come in after I'm finished and say "OH Yeah!"...list a bunch of stuff and then claim I didn't do it right the first time. That's about as stupid as having a contractor build a 2 bedroom house  and then when he's done, telling him "Yeah...ya know..I really wanted 6 bedrooms on 4 floors".

     

    Oh, you and your outdated waterfall development practices... If you were using an agile development cycle, this whole thing including reading the mind of your employer wouldn't be an issue. You are a product of the previous millenium.

    [/quote]

     

     A clueless organization remains clueless regardless of how often you hit them on the head with different types of clubs.

     What
    I am tying to say is: If they don't know their own processes and/or
    know them but are not clear how to develop those processes then neither
    waterfall nor agile development approaches will work. (Mixing of
    metaphors continues:) You just can not stiffen a bucket of spit with a
    handfull of buck shot.[quote user="DrJokepu"]

    [



  • @DrJokepu said:

    Oh, you and your outdated waterfall development practices... If you were using an agile development cycle, this whole thing including reading the mind of your employer wouldn't be an issue. You are a product of the previous millenium.

    Ahh, that's what you needed... 6 bedrooms on 4 floors [b]and[/b] a waterfall!



  • @cklam said:

    EPIC FAIL



  • @realmerlyn said:

    @DrJokepu said:
    Oh, you and your outdated waterfall development practices... If you were using an agile development cycle, this whole thing including reading the mind of your employer wouldn't be an issue. You are a product of the previous millenium.

    Ahh, that's what you needed... 6 bedrooms on 4 floors and a waterfall!

    Frank Lloyd Wright, is that you?



  •  I like the happy ending.@Loradan said:

    I quit the following week!

     



  • Its refreshing to see someone actually stand up for themselves in a situation like this.  Most of the WTFs on this site are here in the first place because the person they're about didn't speak up when they should have.  Its good to see someone not taking the martyr role for a change.



  • I agree. I'm all for giving 100%...but if it the company doesn't want change, I'm not gonna stick around and beat a dead horse. I'd rather move on and find something better :)



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @cklam said:

    EPIC FAIL

    Sorry, my bad.


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