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It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

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Re: It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

#101

Post by badclient »

ojbyrne wrote: post #94
DougBTX wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tim Schafer, of http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doublefine/double-fine-a... fame, has a note on his door until 11am in the morning saying, don't knock, writing. Could you make progress on projectY if you made a deal to not work on projectX until 11am? To not even open your office door? (FWIW, this is a classic Quality of Service (QoS) algorithm, where traffic on ProjectY is given dedicated bandwidth (2 hours in t…

Door? Who has those anymore? In the interest of collaboration open-plan offices have become the norm, to the detriment of productivity everywhere.

Funny enough I didn't get a private office but we got walls built for a private office when the sales guy joined because he was disturbing everyone. If my non developer coworkers realized how disturbing it is to be in flow writing code to have someone tap your shoulder and start discussing a totally unrelated issue to what you've been coding.

Re: It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

#102

Post by badclient »

ori_b wrote: post #86
badclient wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if your workplace environment really doesn't permit that, move on. Doing just that :) It's basically a startup with 10 of us where I am the only in house developer. I've tried many things like asking folks to Skype me instead of walking over to my desk or calling my name. I've gone to great lengths to get em to understand why skyping to get my attention is different than other ways. None of these guidelines reall…

Did you respond with anything other than "I asked you to skype me" when they ignored your request? If not, there's your problem. People do what works. Reinforce their bad behavior, and you have a problem.

Yeah but I lost that war because my boss hates Skype and doesn't get why someone sitting inches from me should have to Skype me.

Re: It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

#103

Post by badclient »

hkmurakami wrote: post #84
badclient wrote: post #52

This shit happens at my job and leaves me feeling depressed and at times questioning my own skills because I know and my bosses know that on my part, I just had to make a tiny, tiny change. But when you have a dozen such experiences, I feel like something is wrong with me because when the dust settles, this was a one line code change that took me a week to push to production. It also makes my bosses question my estim…

Here's my suggestion: have your boss talk to Jenn and make her understand that you'll be spending the next day working on the boss' request. Any interruptions would have to go through the Boss, so that all parties are aligned. This seems like a communication problem between the managers. (I can speak from experience, since I messed this up once when I reallocated our engineers' time without fully being on the same pa…

Ideally that should work but projectX is what the whole company is working on and key pieces of it are being tested throughout the day so it's impractical to have a cut off time.

Re: It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

#105

Post by badclient »

pikewood wrote: post #83
badclient wrote: post #52

This shit happens at my job and leaves me feeling depressed and at times questioning my own skills because I know and my bosses know that on my part, I just had to make a tiny, tiny change. But when you have a dozen such experiences, I feel like something is wrong with me because when the dust settles, this was a one line code change that took me a week to push to production. It also makes my bosses question my estim…

This will keep happening if you keep saying OK. Try something like, "Can I get back to you in an hour? Boss wants me to finish this top priority item for him." And if Boss asks you if you can finish it next week, say no. You're being asked to give an estimate, and it doesn't help to say "Yes, if [this thing doesn't happen which I know it will]". If they want you to be the startup guy, then act like you're the one in…

That works until they goto the boss and the boss comes to me...

"So I know your project is important but projectX is still our #1 priority so to the extent Jenny needs you please prioritize her work"

Re: It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

#106

Post by sdfjkl »

badclient wrote: post #101
ojbyrne wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Door? Who has those anymore? In the interest of collaboration open-plan offices have become the norm, to the detriment of productivity everywhere.

Funny enough I didn't get a private office but we got walls built for a private office when the sales guy joined because he was disturbing everyone . If my non developer coworkers realized how disturbing it is to be in flow writing code to have someone tap your shoulder and start discussing a totally unrelated issue to what you've been coding.

Be a grumpy bastard. Someone taps me on the shoulder, I'm grumpy the first time, I growl the second time and if there is a third time I'll shout at them. Hasn't come to the shouting yet (although one guy got pretty close, but I just glared at him last time he approached and he grasped it).

Also, ask if you can work from home since your office environment is bullshit for writing code.

Re: It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

#107

Post by hkmurakami »

badclient wrote: post #103
hkmurakami wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's my suggestion: have your boss talk to Jenn and make her understand that you'll be spending the next day working on the boss' request. Any interruptions would have to go through the Boss, so that all parties are aligned. This seems like a communication problem between the managers. (I can speak from experience, since I messed this up once when I reallocated our engineers' time without fully being on the same pa…

Ideally that should work but projectX is what the whole company is working on and key pieces of it are being tested throughout the day so it's impractical to have a cut off time.

Well the converse of my suggestion adapted to your particular situation would be this:

Boss: Could you do this thing for me?

Badclient: Well, as you know, I have Project X as my highest priority. I'm happy to oblige, but Jenn has dibs on my time at the moment. If you can talk to her and come to an agreement on how I should distribute my time, I'll be happy to work on your thing.

Whatever happens, your boss is on the same page as Jenn, and all you have to do is execute the agreed upon plan.

Re: It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

#108

Post by kisielk »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #42
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Code reviews I have to take issue with this one. Code (and Requirements, and Design) reviews, when done properly probably have the greatest impact in improving product quality. No, I don't have time to look up the SEI research on the subject, but it has been consistently shown to be true. Part of the problem I had with the article was that Shirley was rejecting code for non-specific reasons. You can't say "it's not…

I like code reviews for higher level concerns - new class hierarchies, big pieces of refactoring, new areas of functionality etc. However, I don't see as much value in reviewing low level changes such as one liners or odd bug fixes. Making code reviews mandatory is too much overhead and too inflexible for me.

We have mandatory code reviews for all changes and I think it works quite well. A person making a one or two line bugfix may think it's quite innocuous but it may have a bigger impact on other parts of the system than they realize. Many eyes help reduce the likelihood of that.

Re: It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

#109

Post by aneth »

dools wrote: post #93

I seriously don't see the problem. The author seems to be assuming that taking 6 days to have a change made is objectively bad. Does the company run? Does it make money? Do the systems work and stuff? Well, if whatever you're doing now to keep the systems working and the company running and making money obviously works so I'd say it's objectively good. The experience may feel bad subjectively but how you feel is of t…

I generally agree that this process doesn't sound all that terrible for code that controls a large, live manufacturing line. Try changing the code that runs a pacemaker - you'll learn all sorts of things about process.

This line however is the road to hell:

"if the company wants to spend $50,000 to change 1 line of code, and it's not going under, then that's obviously the right decision"

Just because a company is successful does not mean it does everything right and does not contain the seed of its own destruction.

Re: It Takes 6 Days to Change 1 Line of Code

#110

Post by ojbyrne »

Dove wrote: post #54

If you want a change request processed quickly, you should get someone in upper management to help you herd it through the system. Literally, take your VIP with you, and walk up to the desk of each admin in turn. Say, "Don't wait for Tuesday's meeting--approve this right now." And then walk to the next admin and do it again. And then walk to the test guys and say, "Drop everything and test this now." And then gather…

That works once. Then the next time you go to each desk, the person there has already checked with their boss, and says "my boss says you need to go through the correct channels and if you don't like it, you need to talk to him."
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