10_20_15
Another day another dollarrrr. What do we have here. Ok.
Running in to a lot of problems in which the customer is making changes to the capability of the product. Functions were written to apply to certain areas, and the customer is pushing the boundaries of these areas. This is creating several problems because there were predefined fields that aren't dynamic. Beyond the problem of fixing the problems he creates, the biggest problem is
THE CUSTOMER's EXPECTATIONS
I was put on this project a few weeks ago to help with the code because no one else in the group knows VBA except me and a guy who just left to go on maternity leave. It means I have a somewhat superficial understanding of how the product is organized, which means I am susceptible to making fixes to cosmetic problems that end up creating more problems. After a few weeks, I'm much more careful with the types of fixes I make. I've learned from my homeslice Joe to minimize the customer's ability to make everything more complicated and my life much harder.
Despite all this, a typical day starts with an impatiently toned email implying that "NOTHING WORKS and NOW THERE ARE MORE PROBLEMS since you fixed it". I then get a nicely written out list of 7 or 8 problems and have to sit through the explanation of all 8 for an hour. After that hour, I go and work on the code and usually find that after fixing the main issue (Usually caused by him making extensions to the product that weren't expected) ALL THE OTHER PROBELMS DISAPPEAR.
So this guy thinks that we are shitty coders or whatnot, when in reality he handed us a shitty piece of work and we keep making the best of it.
Lessons:
1) Be careful WHO and WHAT you work with, especially being handed faulty products and having to make the best of them.
2) After misjudging or making compromises to 1) CONTROL your customer. CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL. Indirectly of course. Fail safes etc.
3) It also wouldn't be the worst thing to make what you can as dynamic as possible. This is a pretty general statement but that's all I can say about it right now.
in Unix, . means copy into the current directory
In VIM, /%,<text to find>, <text to replace>
VIM :wq save and then quit
Running in to a lot of problems in which the customer is making changes to the capability of the product. Functions were written to apply to certain areas, and the customer is pushing the boundaries of these areas. This is creating several problems because there were predefined fields that aren't dynamic. Beyond the problem of fixing the problems he creates, the biggest problem is
THE CUSTOMER's EXPECTATIONS
I was put on this project a few weeks ago to help with the code because no one else in the group knows VBA except me and a guy who just left to go on maternity leave. It means I have a somewhat superficial understanding of how the product is organized, which means I am susceptible to making fixes to cosmetic problems that end up creating more problems. After a few weeks, I'm much more careful with the types of fixes I make. I've learned from my homeslice Joe to minimize the customer's ability to make everything more complicated and my life much harder.
Despite all this, a typical day starts with an impatiently toned email implying that "NOTHING WORKS and NOW THERE ARE MORE PROBLEMS since you fixed it". I then get a nicely written out list of 7 or 8 problems and have to sit through the explanation of all 8 for an hour. After that hour, I go and work on the code and usually find that after fixing the main issue (Usually caused by him making extensions to the product that weren't expected) ALL THE OTHER PROBELMS DISAPPEAR.
So this guy thinks that we are shitty coders or whatnot, when in reality he handed us a shitty piece of work and we keep making the best of it.
Lessons:
1) Be careful WHO and WHAT you work with, especially being handed faulty products and having to make the best of them.
2) After misjudging or making compromises to 1) CONTROL your customer. CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL. Indirectly of course. Fail safes etc.
3) It also wouldn't be the worst thing to make what you can as dynamic as possible. This is a pretty general statement but that's all I can say about it right now.
in Unix, . means copy into the current directory
In VIM, /%,<text to find>, <text to replace>
VIM :wq save and then quit
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