Testers coding bug fixes directly?
-
So I'm a dev manager and our QC lead who is gaining proficiency in coding, though is by no means even a junior programmer has taken it upon himself to directly fix some easy bugs. This is certainly a faster way to get things fixed as our dev resources are severely limited. So far it's restricted to typos/grammar mistakes in hard-coded string UI messages and that type of thing. Good or bad? Thoughts?
I think it's awesome that the guy wants to get his hands dirty and is taking the initiative! Take him under your wing and coach him if you have the time...if not, at least guide him to some helpful resources. Consider that he may bring a fresh insight to your products and customers. :)
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
-
So I'm a dev manager and our QC lead who is gaining proficiency in coding, though is by no means even a junior programmer has taken it upon himself to directly fix some easy bugs. This is certainly a faster way to get things fixed as our dev resources are severely limited. So far it's restricted to typos/grammar mistakes in hard-coded string UI messages and that type of thing. Good or bad? Thoughts?
It's both good and bad for all the reasons already stated. There might be a reason it was coded a certain way that he doesn't know about, and the bug is actually somewhere else. So even if he fixed the problem he encountered he might have created another bug instead. So make sure his fixes gets sent back to the dev team for review.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]
-
So I'm a dev manager and our QC lead who is gaining proficiency in coding, though is by no means even a junior programmer has taken it upon himself to directly fix some easy bugs. This is certainly a faster way to get things fixed as our dev resources are severely limited. So far it's restricted to typos/grammar mistakes in hard-coded string UI messages and that type of thing. Good or bad? Thoughts?
-
mark merrens wrote:
One day he'll fix something he really doesn't understand.
"So far it's restricted to typos/grammar mistakes in hard-coded string UI messages and that type of thing" Plain English? Come on. Don't be silly.
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
I guess you didn't read what he wrote and you repeated.
Munchies_Matt wrote:
So far
From little acorns mighty cockups do grow...
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
-
I guess you didn't read what he wrote and you repeated.
Munchies_Matt wrote:
So far
From little acorns mighty cockups do grow...
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
mark merrens wrote:
From little acorns mighty cockups do grow...
But great oaks don't grow from marshmallow.
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
-
Who QA's the QAs? There's a Latin version of that isn't there?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
coercet, qui scaccario is what you are looking for. Amazing how clever google can make you look.... :)
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
-
So I'm a dev manager and our QC lead who is gaining proficiency in coding, though is by no means even a junior programmer has taken it upon himself to directly fix some easy bugs. This is certainly a faster way to get things fixed as our dev resources are severely limited. So far it's restricted to typos/grammar mistakes in hard-coded string UI messages and that type of thing. Good or bad? Thoughts?
The consensus seems this is a bad idea. This doesn't mean that the QC guy can't be a developer for some of the time if his aspiration is in that direction. It just means that the QC process cannot be corrupted to allow QC people to develop and QC at the same time.
Peter Wasser "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
-
Quote:
As this person gets more confident they'll try and tackle bigger problems
That is certainly a possibility but we should hesitate to be so bold in our assumptions. Heck, in one of my jobs we didn't even have QA. When I was doing asp we did the changes right on the production server sometimes. :)
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
RyanDev wrote:
Heck, in one of my jobs we didn't even have QA. When I was doing asp we did the changes right on the production server sometimes.
I worked in a place like that. What a mess. :suss:
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Who QA's the QAs? There's a Latin version of that isn't there?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
You mean:
Quote:
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes
(Basically translates to "Who will guard the guards themselves?") :)
-
mark merrens wrote:
One day he'll fix something he really doesn't understand.
"So far it's restricted to typos/grammar mistakes in hard-coded string UI messages and that type of thing" Plain English? Come on. Don't be silly.
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
-
I have to agree with Mark Merrens on this one, nothing good can come of this. As this person gets more confident they'll try and tackle bigger problems which brings greater risks. It could be just as easy as documenting what he thinks should be changed and give it to you, then you could dole the work out after aa number on them have been received. If the fixes are indeed easy, it should just take a couple of minutes for the dev team (the people who could perhaps see the bigger picture) to fix.
jeron1 wrote:
If the fixes are indeed easy, it should just take a couple of minutes for the dev team (the people who could perhaps see the bigger picture) to fix.
And probably an order of magnitude more minutes in people's time to assign a ticket number, approve it into a development cycle, estimate it and account for it in the project plan, etc.
-
So I'm a dev manager and our QC lead who is gaining proficiency in coding, though is by no means even a junior programmer has taken it upon himself to directly fix some easy bugs. This is certainly a faster way to get things fixed as our dev resources are severely limited. So far it's restricted to typos/grammar mistakes in hard-coded string UI messages and that type of thing. Good or bad? Thoughts?
-
I think it's okay as long as the bug fix is not signed off by the person that fixes it, and the tester knows his limits when it comes to coding.
BobJanova wrote:
and the tester knows his limits when it comes to coding.
What coder knows his limits? :~
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
So I'm a dev manager and our QC lead who is gaining proficiency in coding, though is by no means even a junior programmer has taken it upon himself to directly fix some easy bugs. This is certainly a faster way to get things fixed as our dev resources are severely limited. So far it's restricted to typos/grammar mistakes in hard-coded string UI messages and that type of thing. Good or bad? Thoughts?
It should be fine if it's only UI messages - if they're kept outside of variables. Such as a messagebox with a fixed caption, or a constant variable. Otherwise you risk coding problems such as "I'll just change the text that's passed to this strcpy()... oops." "I'll just change the text in this char[26]... oops." If the changes they make are under version control the coder could always review them. The thing is, if they do break it, they can just hide behind "I'm not a programmer"... quite legitimately.
-
Quid arsos qual arsolium It roughly translates to "which arse let him touch the code"?
"Benefits of a classical education." - Hans Gruber
Software Zen:
delete this; -
"Benefits of a classical education." - Hans Gruber
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary Wheeler wrote:
"Benefits of a classical education."
You can converse in a dead language. :~
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
It should be fine if it's only UI messages - if they're kept outside of variables. Such as a messagebox with a fixed caption, or a constant variable. Otherwise you risk coding problems such as "I'll just change the text that's passed to this strcpy()... oops." "I'll just change the text in this char[26]... oops." If the changes they make are under version control the coder could always review them. The thing is, if they do break it, they can just hide behind "I'm not a programmer"... quite legitimately.
SortaCore wrote:
if they do break it, they can just hide behind "I'm not a programmer
When you change code you have just become a programmer. Alternatively, if you are not a programmer why did you change the code?
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Gary Wheeler wrote:
"Benefits of a classical education."
You can converse in a dead language. :~
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
SortaCore wrote:
if they do break it, they can just hide behind "I'm not a programmer
When you change code you have just become a programmer. Alternatively, if you are not a programmer why did you change the code?
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopesJimmyRopes wrote:
When you change code you have just become a programmer.
Not something I agree with. I might be able to fix a car, but I don't become a mechanic from doing that. Or whack a nail into a plank of wood and become a "DIY guy". Code to me is the mechanics of the program, not the UI wording. When a program goes multi-language, it'll probably end up with separate language files anyway, which don't contain any code, just variants of UI text; so surely changing that text would make you a programmer, since it affected the program? Heck, you could draw a new icon file and change the program. And if it's embedded into the application, you've just changed the machine code. Congrats on your new job title.
-
JimmyRopes wrote:
When you change code you have just become a programmer.
Not something I agree with. I might be able to fix a car, but I don't become a mechanic from doing that. Or whack a nail into a plank of wood and become a "DIY guy". Code to me is the mechanics of the program, not the UI wording. When a program goes multi-language, it'll probably end up with separate language files anyway, which don't contain any code, just variants of UI text; so surely changing that text would make you a programmer, since it affected the program? Heck, you could draw a new icon file and change the program. And if it's embedded into the application, you've just changed the machine code. Congrats on your new job title.
If you are not a programmer why did you change the code? :doh:
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes