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The absolute worst scenario happened

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Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#321

Post by gregmac »

giantrobot wrote: post #301
ISL wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or rather, how does one avoid getting into this situation. Documentation?

The issue with "documentation" is there are never enough resources devoted to it at most companies. When given a schedule it only covers the main project goal(s) and no time for documentation or refactoring or any quality of life improvements. Significant documentation is also not something easily written in slack time. With any non-trivial project good documentation is a full time effort. It also needs to be updated…

Part of a way around this is broadening your definition of "documentation".

For example, in code: good naming, simple structure, unit tests, and useful comments all can count. A set of easy-to-understand unit tests that cover real scenarios is much better than even the greatest documentation ever written.

A fully scripted build and ideally also deployment (CI/CD pipeline) beats a checklist with tens of items that have to manually followed.

An issue system with good descriptions of changes (including why and what), reproduction steps, expected outcomes, links to related issues, etc also can go a long way.

All of this stuff has the side effect of making day-to-day work simpler, overall, while actually just being a part of that work.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#322

Post by ycombinete »

tofuahdude wrote: post #309
throwthescene wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throwaway purely so that I can comment. I've had this happen before. Years ago I left a rather awful company - I left on great terms with my boss, though I hated the company. I was the last person who knew how to release X product. While I documented everything, after I left, the wiki lost its mind, backups apparently weren't a thing, and the director of IT moved to Bermuda. Fast forward 6 months.. a contractual obli…

I love this with all my heart. You did exactly the right thing at every step.

Funnily enough it made me sick to my stomach. I manage a small company and the idea of being extorted in such a blasé and psychopathic fashion terrifies me to even think about.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#323

Post by smnrchrds »

csomar wrote: post #311
smnrchrds wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, if farmers in Australia increase wages and thus their product becomes more expensive, the product on supermarket shelves will not become more expensive. Rather, supermarkets will import food from another country. Food is, with few exceptions, a commodity. The producer does not set the price of the commodity, the market does. I am telling this as an engineer working in the Canada's oil and gas sector. Si…

Apples and Oranges. If you include global supply, then you have to increase salaries "globally". We all (I assume) should know that demand/supply set the price. But imported products don't fly right into the country. There is customs, and denying/tariffing them is a policy that countries are very actively using. So at the end of the day, it's a political decision. Edit: On the other hand, if you are exporting stuff (…

If you ban import X from a country, the country will likely ban import Y from your country in retaliation. Sometimes the net effect would still be in your favour, but often times it would not be. Do you know why American brands dominate the US truck market? It started with a tariff on American chicken by some European countries and it quickly snowballed into much more [0][1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/01/25/511663527/epis...

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#324

Post by nitrogen »

colinmhayes wrote: post #313
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in america farmers hire illegals to harvest crops, claiming that no american would do the work. This has always struck me as a really terrible excuse. I'm sorry, you can't simply break the law because you'd have to pay an american $20 / hr to do the work. Sure, it means that your tomatoes are more expensive, but also, now there's a hell of an incentive to apply automation to the problem yes? If you don't like th…

If farmers paid enough to get Americans to do seasonal farm labor their produce would cost twice as much as central/south American produce and they would immediately go out of business as everyone buys cheap imported fruit.

A labor-protectionist strategy has to be paired with a goods-protectionist strategy (tariffs or bans on imports).

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#325

Post by notyourday »

digi59404 wrote: post #280
notyourday wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CEO: We are doing project X. We have engaged so and so to do it. You are to support this. : I'm uncomfortable sharing this information with the outside party. I will need to get the approvals for ... CEO: Yes, tell them to do this. ... Jack, head of IT in charge of backups: Ok, you can have this access. Consultant: Great. It says I'm not authorized to perform this operation. It is a blocker, could this be fixed so I…

This happens, and honestly it happens rarely. When you’re in this role your goal and job is to build relationships and help people. That includes Jack. The job is getting done with or without Jacks help. So he can either jump onboard or he can be removed and someone else can be added to give access. In the end people like Jack benefit nothing from being gatekeepers. Because the third time I have to ask for permission…

That's not correct.

When you are in a firefighting role, your job is to fix the fire, not appease Jack and build relationship with him, the person whose practices created the situation to begin with. Unfortunately, even in those cases the highest level of stakeholder who engaged your firefighting service may not be willing to tell Jack's manager or Jack that he will do what he is told or he will be removed.

Jack's gatekeeping is what keeps Jack employed. The company's ultimate bosses will need to make decision if they want to remove Jack and solve a problem or if they do not care that much that the problem is quickly solved. In the vast majority of cases no one in the company who can fire Jack wants to be seen as a bad guy.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#326

Post by antihero »

ihsw wrote: post #277
antihero wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well perhaps that's the problem of the market. That it can't particularly function to enrich some people without gross levels of exploitation.

Being paid $5/hour farming in Australia vs $0.50/hour assembling shoes in Malaysia. Wow, such exploitation. "Exploitation" is a relative term, some people would rather be exploited in the countryside of a first-world nation rather than the countryside of their homeland.

Yes, they are both exploitation and they are both evil.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#327

Post by jandrese »

greeneggs wrote: post #286
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in america farmers hire illegals to harvest crops, claiming that no american would do the work. This has always struck me as a really terrible excuse. I'm sorry, you can't simply break the law because you'd have to pay an american $20 / hr to do the work. Sure, it means that your tomatoes are more expensive, but also, now there's a hell of an incentive to apply automation to the problem yes? If you don't like th…

Of course it isn't that simple. If your farm's tomatoes are more expensive than your neighbors' tomatoes, then nobody will buy them. You'll quickly go bankrupt. It is also difficult because of the two tiers of labor. A farmer will try increasing wages by $1/hour, and still struggle to find enough workers. Wages would probably have to be doubled before new workers—Americans—would start to enter the industry.

This is the reason tariffs exist. You levy a fee that makes the imported food cost as much as food picked using domestic labor.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#328

Post by neogodless »

yrgulation wrote: post #269
jiggawatts wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh come now, there are password complexity policies in place in any modern software! Try: password123.

Oh please, even such a crappy place knows better. Its Password123. Adding capital letters makes it more secure.

But hackers might be expecting capital letters, so disallowing them from passwords is more secure!

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#329

Post by plorkyeran »

viraptor wrote: post #108
tw04 wrote: post #88

I actually don't see any issue that isn't simply a matter of money. Everything they list that's an issue seems to revolve around the fact that the employees with domain knowledge for the system have left the company. Reach out to them and hire them on as contractors. If they left under bad terms because the business was a bunch of dicks, expect to pay 10x market rate. If this is truly "fix this or the business is out…

There's the possibility that those employees are happily retired and don't care. Or they're just not available in many ways. I know of a hospital which is still refusing to migrate off of a system which is not supported for a decade. Pay more money? 3 people worked on it: Adam had a stroke, Bob retired with enough money, Charlie left the country.

There's a pretty big gap between "happily retired with enough money to not be worried" and having zero interest in ever getting more money regardless of the rate. After a decade a happily retired person who left amicably and didn't hate their job might even enjoy a short-term contract if you can isolate them from all the petty annoyances that come with a normal job. Charlie leaving the country shouldn't be a dealbreaker either unless you literally have tried to track them down and couldn't.

If the long-gone ex-employees hated their employer and would be happy to see if go out of business then you're in quite a bit more trouble.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#330

Post by freen »

colinmhayes wrote: post #313
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in america farmers hire illegals to harvest crops, claiming that no american would do the work. This has always struck me as a really terrible excuse. I'm sorry, you can't simply break the law because you'd have to pay an american $20 / hr to do the work. Sure, it means that your tomatoes are more expensive, but also, now there's a hell of an incentive to apply automation to the problem yes? If you don't like th…

If farmers paid enough to get Americans to do seasonal farm labor their produce would cost twice as much as central/south American produce and they would immediately go out of business as everyone buys cheap imported fruit.

Sounds like they don’t have a business, and should shut down.
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