Comments on: In software no good deed goes unpunished http://codecraft.info/index.php/archives/81/ The art, science and craft of writing quality software Fri, 16 May 2008 04:01:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1.3 by: BXT http://codecraft.info/index.php/archives/81/#comment-24702 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:04:10 +0000 http://codecraft.info/index.php/archives/81/#comment-24702 I have experienced this myself, where people were telling me how bad or awful someone's code was but when I actually reviewed the person's code, there was nothing horrible, out of the ordinary, or against best practices with this guy's code. But whenever something went wrong with the system or something looked like it was running inefficiently, it became all too easy to blame this person's code (even though the issue could have been completely unrelated to code - for example, environment-related issues). Everyone latched on to this ready-made excuse: other developers, architects, CIO, network infrastructure guys. It got to the point that when this developer left and I had to take over his work, every explanation I gave regarding an existing bug had to be accompanied with the statement "It's not my code". I'm pretty sure that I will leave the same "legacy" as this developer did when I leave. Things that go wrong with the system, code-related or not, will undoubtedly be attributed to "my code" if people continue to formulate opinions without actually doing any examination. Why do I fear this is what will happen? Because it's become too convenient to do and it's always easier to blame the voiceless. I have experienced this myself, where people were telling me how bad or awful someone’s code was but when I actually reviewed the person’s code, there was nothing horrible, out of the ordinary, or against best practices with this guy’s code. But whenever something went wrong with the system or something looked like it was running inefficiently, it became all too easy to blame this person’s code (even though the issue could have been completely unrelated to code - for example, environment-related issues). Everyone latched on to this ready-made excuse: other developers, architects, CIO, network infrastructure guys. It got to the point that when this developer left and I had to take over his work, every explanation I gave regarding an existing bug had to be accompanied with the statement “It’s not my code”.

I’m pretty sure that I will leave the same “legacy” as this developer did when I leave. Things that go wrong with the system, code-related or not, will undoubtedly be attributed to “my code” if people continue to formulate opinions without actually doing any examination. Why do I fear this is what will happen? Because it’s become too convenient to do and it’s always easier to blame the voiceless.

]]> by: Web 2.0 Announcer http://codecraft.info/index.php/archives/81/#comment-19623 Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:08:05 +0000 http://codecraft.info/index.php/archives/81/#comment-19623 <strong>Code Craft » In software no good deed goes unpunished</strong> [...][...] Code Craft » In software no good deed goes unpunished

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