I don't think you can win this one. Your boss is probably right
in his assertion that if you took the time to do things right,
they would be out of business. This is typical thinking when
people don't understand the finance of software development. His
thought is "what is this going to cost me today?". The earlier in
the development cycle that defects are found, the cheaper they are
to fix. But you have to invest in that up-front work to get there.
Apparently, that's not how he's looking at it. I've worked
in this environment before and it's not pleasant to someone with
your background.
But I think you answered your own question when you said you need
need the income. There's a line from the movie Full Metal Jacket
that applies at times like this: "It's a great big sh*t sandwhich,
and we're all gonna have to take a bite". Sums up our current economy
and overall job situation, IMHO. I'd program in cobol to feed the family if
I had
to. Heck, I'd punch JCL on punch cards. I'd even maintain database
engine code for IBM if I had to in order to put food on the table.
(wait, I am doing that ... hmm...)
-----Original Message-----
From: slug@nks.net [mailto:slug@nks.net]On Behalf Of Russ Wright
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 8:13 AM
To: slug@nks.net
Subject: [SLUG] Good, Fast and Cheap?
Hello SLUGgers!
I'm having a bit of a problem with my new employer. I've spent many years
developing software for some bigger development houses that follow
structured
development processes and created some high quality, stable, and
maintainable
software. I recently took a job with a small three developer shop.
Here is my problem. Their code is crap. I mean lousy, patched togeher and
undocumented. I've been assigned to fix some bugs in the app and I took the
time to analyze and document the proper solution. It seems that my method
of
analysis was and I quote "a waste of time... if we all took that much time
to
look at the problem we would go out of business"
My boss further explained that I should just find a quick solution, patch
it,
slam it out and let the user community test it in production. To say the
least I'm perplexed. My years of development experience tells me this is a
BAD trend that will come back to bite me in the arse later. I understand
being nimble and staying profitable. I've tired to explain that good code
takes some time and fast code cost more money later but he will not listen.
I need the income, but should I compromise my standards?
Any advice?
Russ
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