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Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#721

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

duderific wrote: post #690
delecti wrote: post #633

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible things have changed, but at least while I still worked there, virtually nobody paid to turn the ads off. It was a vanishingly tiny number. Though fun fact, some execs did the math before making the smart cover, and figured they'd make more money from that, than they lost from people not being able to see and interact with ads.

I just ignore it, I don't know why anyone would pay to turn it off. It goes away as soon as you start reading the book.

It annoyed me enough that I've paid twice. And once on a fire tablet when I found my toddler daughter playing a game on the lock screen.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#722

Post by nython »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #687
laeri wrote: post #683

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what is hindering you talking about it. You seem to be proud of it.

Um ... confidentiality? Maybe it's become passé , these days, but I subscribe to it. I talk my life and experience. I’m old, and have been at this game for a while, so I’ve seen a fair bit. I don't fluff, brag, or humblebrag. I don't pretend to be what I'm not, and I can back up what I say. Sometimes, I don't think it's necessary or proper to do so (like in this case), and what I claimed was not so outrageous, when y…

My reading of what laeri wrote is "you seem to be proud of the work you did on that project so I'm not sure what is hindering you from talking about it". Not "you seem to be proud of not talking about it".

Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#723

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

nython wrote: post #722
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um ... confidentiality? Maybe it's become passé , these days, but I subscribe to it. I talk my life and experience. I’m old, and have been at this game for a while, so I’ve seen a fair bit. I don't fluff, brag, or humblebrag. I don't pretend to be what I'm not, and I can back up what I say. Sometimes, I don't think it's necessary or proper to do so (like in this case), and what I claimed was not so outrageous, when y…

My reading of what laeri wrote is "you seem to be proud of the work you did on that project so I'm not sure what is hindering you from talking about it". Not "you seem to be proud of not talking about it".

I'll be generous, and assume that. I tend to get a lot of young folks, telling me that I'm an empty boaster (spoiler: I'm not). Some of them actually seem to be obsessed, which is sort of flattering (I guess).

If that's the case, then I'll certainly apologize. Maybe I'm a cynic.

I don't really have a desire to be BMOC. It's just that this is the only place I engage in any kind of social media, and most folks seem to like what I post.

I've done a lot, over the years. I've worked amongst some of the best and the brightest, and I'm fairly used to being the dumbest guy in the room.

I know that there's many folks, out there, that make me look like a knuckle-dragger, and how ridiculous it is, for me to act like I'm King Shit. Maybe those folks don't feel the need to chime in, around here.

In the case of this posting, a question was asked, and I answered it, in what may actually be too much detail. The company I worked for, had (still has) a real paranoia, when it comes to intellectual property.

I just figured that folks might want to hear stories from the trenches (I have a lot -many that can't be told). That was what I assumed, from the question, and was merely participating in the community.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#724

Post by shireboy »

baw-bag wrote: post #370
shireboy wrote: post #250

This is old, but my most pointless project: The CEO wanted a screen in every hall that showed the company "EnGUAGEment meter". Users would have to go to the app, choose from 10 or so canned messages like "Feeling productive", "Ready to conquer the day", and other such HR speak the CEO (or rather the HR committee he put on the important business of picking the list) felt was motivational. This would update a page that…

Oh my god, it isn't the same product but I was the user of a similar thing at an old job I had for 2 years only it was a slider from 1-10. I always chose 1 no matter how productive, happy or driven I felt. I remember that HR called me in because of this and in a round-about way said I can't just keep doing that as it was bringing the whole purpose of the system down. If I didn't want to interact with the system then…

The beatings will continue until morale improves!

Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#725

Post by nython »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #723
nython wrote: post #722

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My reading of what laeri wrote is "you seem to be proud of the work you did on that project so I'm not sure what is hindering you from talking about it". Not "you seem to be proud of not talking about it".

I'll be generous, and assume that. I tend to get a lot of young folks, telling me that I'm an empty boaster (spoiler: I'm not). Some of them actually seem to be obsessed, which is sort of flattering (I guess). If that's the case, then I'll certainly apologize. Maybe I'm a cynic. I don't really have a desire to be BMOC. It's just that this is the only place I engage in any kind of social media, and most folks seem to…

Well, a good opportunity to say that I don't post here much but I do enjoy your stories.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#726

Post by nython »

jmclnx wrote: post #642

Decades ago, CITS. It was a system to keep track of "Corporate Inventory In Transient". The idea was to track inventory in Trucks. This may seem useful, but with what I know now, it was to track inventory for a reason that was border-line illegal. During Inventory time, trucks would be loaded up and they would cruse the Highways until the Inventory was over. They wanted a way to know what inventory was on a sightseei…

Sounds like doing inventory but with an extra step.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#727

Post by jfil »

snakeyjake wrote: post #371

I once spent six months working the hardest I've ever worked in my entire life with a mechanical engineer, two technicians, a machinist, and all of the supporting cast of procurement and scheduling to build a test fixture for a control board for a satellite. There were four control boards per panel and four panels per satellite and a projected order of 12 satellites so were going to have over 200 boards (enough plus…

I would be proud to have made a useless item like that.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#728

Post by Fanmade »

talldatethrow wrote: post #709
codingdave wrote: post #694

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you are underestimating pretty much this entire industry. Picking up codebases that are sketchy and new to us is just part of the job. Finding and fixing bugs is an exercise to get rolling, not an insurmountable challenge. When people keep using software, it is because it solves a problem. They might not like the software but begrudgingly use it anyway because it solves that problem. So sure, pat yours…

While I agree professionals pick up codebases left behind by several iterations of developers, I think picking up a large PHP/Jquery PM tool written by a first time self taught via YouTube and stack overflow developer might be many peoples idea of a bad time. It doesn't really solve a problem. Not really atleast. It's a little better than using 6 Excel sheets via a google drive honestly. The reason it got sold is bec…

Well, I know several experienced software developers with good software ideas, but no clue how to sale them.

It sounds like bringing them and you together would basically be a guarantees success.

By the way; I am working as a self-employed developer and my favourite project is a software that has initially been written by a self-taught programmer who both started and ended his career with that software. As far as I heard (he was already out when I joined) he got burned out and said that he never wanted to work with anything software related again. He used PHP and jQuery. I've mainly added new stuff instead of touching the old code, while only only refactoring the old stuff where necessary in very small increments. Most other devs really hate to touch it, but I don't understand why. Of course it would be better to replace it with a new version that has been built on top of a proper framework, but their management is too stubborn to understand that an incremental approach is the better way of handling this. So instead, they try to get a "complete understanding" of the project and try to create a completely new version in a "big bang" approach. This usually takes a few months or even a year until this new replacement project is considered a failure while I keep maintaining and cleaning up the old project. It's been six years for now and even their most "optimistic" people currently say that the old software will be running for at least two more years. Having built up a lot of knowledge over that time, I could easily create a new version in less than half a year (I actually think two months, but I'm tripling my estimation for safety), but that would make their management look bad (long story), so I don't get the green light to do that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"Two month sound too optimistic" you say? Well it's an inbox, an outbox and one form with a few calculations in between. I have created way more complex software than that in the last years.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#729

Post by deathmonger5000 »

I created a tool called Together Gift It because my family was sending an insane amount of gift related group texts during the holidays. My favorite one was when someone included the gift recipient in the group text about what gift we were getting for the person.

Together Gift It solves the problem the way you’d think: with AI. Just kidding. It solves the problem by keeping everything in one place. No more group texts. There are wish lists and everything you’d want around that type of thing. There is also AI.

https://www.togethergiftit.com/

Re: Ask HN: What is the most useless project you have worked on?

#730

Post by nullserver »

Facebook leaderboard for AT&T back when they were dropping calls like crazy. So really early in social media days.

The more you commented or liked posts the higher on leader board. Top comments would be automatically highlight.

I kept trying to get word to people in charge that the project would fail. No one would listen.

Went live for 1 day. Every top comment, was on how horrible AT&T was.

Shut down next day. 3 months of work for nothing.

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