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  3. Your boss asks one of your collegues to modify your code

Your boss asks one of your collegues to modify your code

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  • M Marc Greiner at home

    How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

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    Pete OHanlon
    wrote on last edited by
    #5

    Marc Greiner at home wrote:

    you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs

    That's time to wheel out the sneering, condescending tone. It helps if you can tell your bosses boss that the underlings just aren't clever enough to understand your genius.

    I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be

    Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads

    My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Onyx

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    • M Marc Greiner at home

      How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

      M Offline
      M Offline
      Maximilien
      wrote on last edited by
      #6

      Do a formal code review and some QA and report that to your boss.

      Watched code never compiles.

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      • M Marc Greiner at home

        How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

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        Single Step Debugger
        wrote on last edited by
        #7

        Marc Greiner at home wrote:

        How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

        Why you need to react at all? It’s neither your decision nor your mistake. Live them to clean their mess or help them if they ask politely. Otherwise if you make a big thing out of it you will look like you’re too jealous to your code

        There is only one Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.

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        • M Marc Greiner at home

          How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

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          Lost User
          wrote on last edited by
          #8

          How could bugs be introduced with code reviews, unit tests and automated testing at your disposal? :) I wouldn't be pleased and would want to know why this situation arose. Does your boss not trust you? Have you fallen out in the past? Have you given him a reason for his actions? Just don't be too hard on the co-worker who made the changes as he was put in a crap situation and was probably under pressure.

          Blogging about Qt Creator

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          • M Marc Greiner at home

            How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

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            Phil J Pearson
            wrote on last edited by
            #9

            It happened once to me (only once!) I unwound all the changes and wrote an email with a detailed critique explaining the uselessness of the changes and the impact of the introduced bugs. It was safety-critical software and I explained that the changes, if allowed to go through, would have compromised safety. I also promised that if anything of the sort happened again I would withdraw all support for the whole codebase. No attempt to mess with my code has happened since.

            Phil


            The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.

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            • M Marc Greiner at home

              How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

              A Offline
              A Offline
              AspDotNetDev
              wrote on last edited by
              #10

              When I write code on company time, that code belongs to the company I work for, not to me. My boss can have others work on "my" code as he pleases. I introduce bugs sometimes, so I imagine I'd be rather forgiving of those introduced by others (though I might make fun of it in the Hall of Shame ;) ).

              [Forum Guidelines]

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              • M Marc Greiner at home

                How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

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                Dave Parker
                wrote on last edited by
                #11

                *shrugs* it's what usually happens I thought. Nearly everything that gets assigned to me is a change to something that was started by someone else, likewise other people are often tasked with something that was mostly written by me to start with. I think the idea is to spread knowledge around the team or something like that. But if it's something complex and critical hopefully they'd ask whoever created it in the first place if there was something they didn't understand, assuming they were still around.

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                • M Marc Greiner at home

                  How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

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                  L Offline
                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #12

                  Man up, it's probably no your code but the companies, you just wrote the first version. If he broke it I'd write better unit tests so that the next maintainer doesn't make similar mistakes.

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                  • M Marc Greiner at home

                    How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

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                    S Offline
                    Slacker007
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #13

                    I would take my boss out to the back field and put a bullet through his head. Seriously, I would be upset because my boss doesn't know anything about our line of work and I would be upset with my coworker for not consulting with me first.

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                    • M Marc Greiner at home

                      How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

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                      P Offline
                      peterchen
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #14

                      It's not your code, ust code you've written.

                      Agh! Reality! My Archnemesis![^]
                      | FoldWithUs! | sighist | WhoIncludes - Analyzing C++ include file hierarchy

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                      • M Marc Greiner at home

                        How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

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                        G Offline
                        Gary R Wheeler
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #15

                        They would find two bodies floating face down in a culvert somewhere. Next question?

                        Software Zen: delete this;
                        Fold With Us![^]

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                        • M Marc Greiner at home

                          How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

                          L Offline
                          L Offline
                          Lost User
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #16

                          depends what you mean by "behind your back". If the boss deliberately avoided telling you (and possibly instructed your coworker not to mention it) then communication in your office has failed and you need to find out why this sort of thing is necessary. perhaps your boss feels you would have sulked, or ranted, or whatever, and so tried to avoid this. perhaps your code is crap and he didn't want to upset you. perhaps you are working on something far more important and he didn't want to bother you with something as trivial as improving the efficiency of some part of the code. The fact that some bugs apparently have been introduced would be a cause for concern, of course. Maybe your code was insufficiently documented for your co-worker to follow - or maybe your co-worker is a gormless prat. whatever the facts, you obviously are not working as a team, and this can only lead to problems. So, without knowing more information, as a best guess next step I would suggest chatting to your co-worker, and seeing if you can work together to sort out the bugs.show your boss you can work together as a team, without being precious about 'your' code. then, when you're all working as a happy team, go f*(k up your co-worker's code behind his back, and see how he likes it :)

                          ___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

                          M 1 Reply Last reply
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                          • H Henry Minute

                            LIQUID NITROGEN!

                            Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

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                            LloydA111
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #17

                            Henry Minute wrote:

                            LIQUID NITROGEN!

                            Someone once explained what this meant, but I have forgot :laugh: What does it mean?


                            See if you can crack this: fb29a481781fe9b3fb8de57cda45fbef

                            The unofficial awesome history of Code Project's Bob! "People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."

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                            • L Lost User

                              depends what you mean by "behind your back". If the boss deliberately avoided telling you (and possibly instructed your coworker not to mention it) then communication in your office has failed and you need to find out why this sort of thing is necessary. perhaps your boss feels you would have sulked, or ranted, or whatever, and so tried to avoid this. perhaps your code is crap and he didn't want to upset you. perhaps you are working on something far more important and he didn't want to bother you with something as trivial as improving the efficiency of some part of the code. The fact that some bugs apparently have been introduced would be a cause for concern, of course. Maybe your code was insufficiently documented for your co-worker to follow - or maybe your co-worker is a gormless prat. whatever the facts, you obviously are not working as a team, and this can only lead to problems. So, without knowing more information, as a best guess next step I would suggest chatting to your co-worker, and seeing if you can work together to sort out the bugs.show your boss you can work together as a team, without being precious about 'your' code. then, when you're all working as a happy team, go f*(k up your co-worker's code behind his back, and see how he likes it :)

                              ___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

                              M Offline
                              M Offline
                              Marc Greiner at home
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #18

                              Thanks for your answer. You really sound like having a lot of experience in this domain... Developers are often having such a big ego, and i am no exception to this...

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                              • M Marc Greiner at home

                                How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

                                M Offline
                                M Offline
                                Mark_Wallace
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #19

                                It's not your code. It belongs to the company. And so what, anyway? Maybe you were working on something that your boss considered more important, so he didn't want to pull you off it. Maybe a hundred things. If you start acting like you own everything you touch, you become a liability, not an asset. I myself would hand your code to other people to work on, just to break you of that.

                                I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                                M 1 Reply Last reply
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                                • M Mark_Wallace

                                  It's not your code. It belongs to the company. And so what, anyway? Maybe you were working on something that your boss considered more important, so he didn't want to pull you off it. Maybe a hundred things. If you start acting like you own everything you touch, you become a liability, not an asset. I myself would hand your code to other people to work on, just to break you of that.

                                  I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                                  M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  Marc Greiner at home
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #20

                                  Sure it is certainly the company's code. But simply stating it boldly like that doesn't help, especially if one has been working on this piece of code during several years. It is normal and I think, it is even good, that I have some attachment to that code, simply because of the fact that I would be in the position of giving an advice about how to go. At least, I could have been informed or asked how to implement the changes, it would certainly not have resulted in the code regression and performance hit. I definitely don't think that is is simply a need for some reward. It has also to do with respecting someone else's work, or wishing for better communication, or simply trying to be more efficient as a team.

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                                  • M Marc Greiner at home

                                    How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

                                    B Offline
                                    B Offline
                                    BillWoodruff
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #21

                                    Marc Greiner at home wrote:

                                    How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back

                                    I would ask for a private meeting with my boss, and ask him an "open-ended" question in as "neutral" a tone as possible; something like: "I noticed this code was modified by XXXX, and I've found some problems that the modifications have introduced which, of course, I would like to help US get fixed asap; I'd appreciate it if you could fill me in on exactly why XXXX was called in, and the full context here, so WE can optimize getting the code fixed." best, Bill

                                    "Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be arithmetical, numerical, rather than algebraical and analytical. This is an error. The engine can arrange and combine numerical quantities as if they were letters or any other general symbols; and it fact it might bring out its results in algebraical notation, were provisions made accordingly." Ada, Countess Lovelace, 1844

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                                    • S Single Step Debugger

                                      Marc Greiner at home wrote:

                                      How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

                                      Why you need to react at all? It’s neither your decision nor your mistake. Live them to clean their mess or help them if they ask politely. Otherwise if you make a big thing out of it you will look like you’re too jealous to your code

                                      There is only one Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.

                                      S Offline
                                      S Offline
                                      Super Lloyd
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #22

                                      Brilliant! :-D

                                      A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.

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                                      • M Marc Greiner at home

                                        How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

                                        R Offline
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                                        R Erasmus
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #23

                                        "Your code"... have never heard of such thing. That is why they have "Concurrent Versioning Systems" for developers who works on source code in parallel. Sometimes on the same source. Its nothing new. Maybe you're just outdated?

                                        "Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." << please vote!! >>

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                                        • M Marc Greiner at home

                                          How would you react after your boss has asked one of your coworkers to modify your code behind your back, for example to add a new function or optimize some algorithm, etc., and you discover that your coworker has broken some of your application's functionality or introduced some bugs?

                                          A Offline
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                                          AMAMH
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #24

                                          I will talk to my boss first, and I would most probably leave this job and find another. If he doesn't respect my intelligence, there are plenty of companies who want me.

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