When you are unable to help

Filed under #tumblelog, #warstories and #consulting.

Came across this:

I refactored the code from untested and untestable, to testable with 40% test coverage. The senior architect is refusing to merge because the test coverage is to low.

https://shermanonsoftware.com/2019/11/15/its-not-sabotage-theyre-drowning/

The whole post contains more examples but is still short and might be well worth reading as well if you are or have been frustrated with people or companies that seems unable to receive help, even when the solution is straightforward.

Here's my (not so) favorite a few years ago: a small, struggling company having on average 3 – 4 people stuck with manually copy/pasting into customer Excel reports at any time. I point out that the data is already available in a central location and suggest they ask one of their in own developers to add CSV output or something at that point.

Their answer: I hear you guys are busy, should we hire one more? (A few months later they fired a bunch of people as the market dried up somewhat.)