Being told to fix bugs caused by others
-
I created part of a web app. Another dev went in and changed how some code works and a modal dialog stopped working (it shows as an empty modal with only the title, but underneath there's an exception). Guess who was assigned the bug? Of course the creator of the tool, that would be me. This happens from time to time and I hate it. I feel that whoever breaks stuff should be publicly shamed ;) (for example in the CI server's website, but of course my client doesn't have CI...) and responsible for fixing it. I am sure this was discussed a dozen times here, sorry. This really grinds my gears.
Pawel Krakowiak wrote:
... web app ... modal dialog ...
Hopefully not using
showModalDialog? That's been disabled in Chrome[^], and deprecated in Firefox[^].
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
-
I created part of a web app. Another dev went in and changed how some code works and a modal dialog stopped working (it shows as an empty modal with only the title, but underneath there's an exception). Guess who was assigned the bug? Of course the creator of the tool, that would be me. This happens from time to time and I hate it. I feel that whoever breaks stuff should be publicly shamed ;) (for example in the CI server's website, but of course my client doesn't have CI...) and responsible for fixing it. I am sure this was discussed a dozen times here, sorry. This really grinds my gears.
Sorry, but I'm with Pete on this one. Public shaming is never going to work out well.
-
Quote:
I have never met a developer who never introduces any bugs
You should go down to the job center, I'm sure you'll find a few developers down there who haven't introduced bugs in months.
What, there are unemployed software engineers?!
-
Sorry, but I'm with Pete on this one. Public shaming is never going to work out well.
-
I created part of a web app. Another dev went in and changed how some code works and a modal dialog stopped working (it shows as an empty modal with only the title, but underneath there's an exception). Guess who was assigned the bug? Of course the creator of the tool, that would be me. This happens from time to time and I hate it. I feel that whoever breaks stuff should be publicly shamed ;) (for example in the CI server's website, but of course my client doesn't have CI...) and responsible for fixing it. I am sure this was discussed a dozen times here, sorry. This really grinds my gears.
Any developer introduces bugs. It is the direct consequence of writing code. There is no point in shaming, even playfully - just point it out and correct it, or ask the one who introduced it to fix it (maybe there was some good reason and you yourself break something trying to fix it). One thing that must be clear is that any relevant change must be tagged in the comments and in the changelog, so that it is backtrackable. I work duo with a colleague, and when I change some established code I never remove it, just comment out the prevoius lines, insert my own and tag with "[NAMEOFTHEMODIFICATION] xx/mm/yyyy Denis: I did this because...". The same does he (ok, not really, but if it's not tagged it's him ;))
-
I created part of a web app. Another dev went in and changed how some code works and a modal dialog stopped working (it shows as an empty modal with only the title, but underneath there's an exception). Guess who was assigned the bug? Of course the creator of the tool, that would be me. This happens from time to time and I hate it. I feel that whoever breaks stuff should be publicly shamed ;) (for example in the CI server's website, but of course my client doesn't have CI...) and responsible for fixing it. I am sure this was discussed a dozen times here, sorry. This really grinds my gears.
Don't think of them as bugs, think of them as "opportunities". ;) The Art of Maintenance Programming[^]
-
Slacker007 wrote:
Public shaming doesn't work and it is terrible for morale.
I saw a plugin or something (years ago) for Continuous Integration servers which on a failed build adds the avatar of the dev who broke it and displays it on the page. ;) I think it's part of the game, it's not real shaming, just an incentive to quickly fix what you broke. No one wants his mugshot to be posted next to a failed build. ;)
Pawel Krakowiak wrote:
it's not real shaming
I would say that's up the shamed person to decide.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello (√-shit)2
-
Ahem. With colleagues, always praise in public and criticize them in private (i.e., to them and not just talking about them behind their back).
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
With colleagues, always praise in public and criticize them in private
I sit on both sides of the fence with this one. I agree because it fosters better working relationships, but I disagree because it frequently creates an illusion of competency, especially to management and new co-workers. The only way out of this that I've found is to take Dale Carnegie's approach of combining some positive aspect with a necessary criticism. Though it sometimes is damned hard to find something positive other than "Joe worked really hard on this but unfortunately, all his hard work had to be thrown out the window." :) Personally, I wish we didn't have to "handle" people with velveteen gloves. That, and position and salary should be determined by one's peers (with, of course, the subject's evaluation of the ability of others to evaluate him/her as part of the equation.) *evil grin* Marc
Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Higher Order Programming
-
Pawel Krakowiak wrote:
I feel that whoever breaks stuff should be publicly shamed
We have a Trophy affectionately called the fuck-up cup. If you discover a bug, you can award the cup to the person who implemented it and they have to display it on the highest part of there desk until somebody else is awarded it. It works really well as the person who finds the bug is usually happy to fix it as they had the pleasure of awarding the cup to the original culprit. Or sometimes you can have a quiet word with the culprit who 9 times out of 10 will drop whatever they are doing to fix their mistake in exchange for you not giving them the cup and thus drawing everyones attention to it.
P0mpey3 wrote:
Or sometimes you can have a quiet word with the culprit who 9 times out of 10 will drop whatever they are doing to fix their mistake in exchange for you not giving them the cup and thus drawing everyones attention to it.
Now that's motivation! :-D Marc
Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Higher Order Programming
-
I created part of a web app. Another dev went in and changed how some code works and a modal dialog stopped working (it shows as an empty modal with only the title, but underneath there's an exception). Guess who was assigned the bug? Of course the creator of the tool, that would be me. This happens from time to time and I hate it. I feel that whoever breaks stuff should be publicly shamed ;) (for example in the CI server's website, but of course my client doesn't have CI...) and responsible for fixing it. I am sure this was discussed a dozen times here, sorry. This really grinds my gears.
Pawel Krakowiak wrote:
I feel that whoever breaks stuff should be publicly shamed ;) (for example in the CI server's website, but of course my client doesn't have CI...) and responsible for fixing it.
Let's see. Two weeks ago I fixed a few security issues in C code written in 1994 by someone I don't know who worked for a company that exists no more. As much as I would like to find the original coder and make him fix the bug, somehow I feel that won't work.
-
Don't think of them as bugs, think of them as "opportunities". ;) The Art of Maintenance Programming[^]
-
I created part of a web app. Another dev went in and changed how some code works and a modal dialog stopped working (it shows as an empty modal with only the title, but underneath there's an exception). Guess who was assigned the bug? Of course the creator of the tool, that would be me. This happens from time to time and I hate it. I feel that whoever breaks stuff should be publicly shamed ;) (for example in the CI server's website, but of course my client doesn't have CI...) and responsible for fixing it. I am sure this was discussed a dozen times here, sorry. This really grinds my gears.
Is this not the path of progress? One person creates something useful; which the stakeholders want to expand functionality for. This then gets worked upon by new team members who will not have the same knowledge levels as the creator - they add new features, and also "inject" bugs. These bugs need to be worked upon - and unfortunately (or fortunately?) in this case, it is the creator himself assigned to fix them :-) Not just software, but automobiles, airplanes, bridges, etc. - would have had the same path towards their current state, isn't it?
-
Pawel Krakowiak wrote:
bugs caused by others
NO WAY! You mean to tell me bugs are caused by others? :omg: :wtf:
»»» Loading Signature «««· · · Please Wait · · ·:badger: :badger: :badger:CBadger wrote:
NO WAY! You mean to tell me bugs are caused by others? :OMG: :WTF:
Or Microsoft. :-O
-
Pawel Krakowiak wrote:
Another dev went in and changed how some code works
Pawel Krakowiak wrote:
This really grinds my gears.
This brings back old memories. Years ago at a large corp. I was forced to write code over a weekend, because "it had to be comleted". I did the work, wrote some documentation, wrote test cases and put the code out for QA team. Of course, even though it had to be done immediately, they never got around to the code for weeks later. Oh, yes, this was HIGH PRIORITY. Whatever. Anyways, weeks later, the guy puts the stuff into production and someone comes to me. "That fails upon start up. Can you have a look." I looked at the code. What? Wait. I've never seen this code. Even though it's supposedly my code. What is going on? After much searching I find a contractor. An architect who is certainly my genius master. He says, "Oh, I rewrote that code." "Well, you did a bang up job," I said. "It doesn't even start. You're going to have to fix it." "I don't do that," he said. Later my boss told me I had to fix The Genius Architect's code even though I had already written code that worked and the GENIUS rewrote my code. What?!? (deployment of interrobang) That is utter stupidity!!! I totally understand your frustration. He who touches code should fix it!!!
newton.saber wrote:
Later my boss told me I had to fix The Genius Architect's code even though I had already written code that worked and the GENIUS rewrote my code.
What?!? (deployment of interrobang)At which point you just reverted the architards checkin to the prior working version?
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
-
newton.saber wrote:
Later my boss told me I had to fix The Genius Architect's code even though I had already written code that worked and the GENIUS rewrote my code.
What?!? (deployment of interrobang)At which point you just reverted the architards checkin to the prior working version?
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Dan Neely wrote:
reverted the architards checkin to the prior working version?
That's exactly what I wanted to do, but I wasn't allowed. It was completely political. Basically, without examining anything my boss said, "His unworking code is better than your working code." Now you could assume I'm an idiot and my code is complete crap. But, honestly, the code worked very well and was actually designed and I had unit tests, etc. Here's the kicker... The code was never put into production anyway, because the entire project went belly-up after they spent millions $$$ paying for contractors (such as the architect) who never could get the final product running. ugh!
-
This is good advice. Maybe unless they never listen to you.
I'm with Pete on this one, as I see team work more valuable than being the sole star in the eyes of manager. However with that said it depends mostly on the team AND the manager. If your teammate doesn't care (again?) then definitely bring it to your manager. If he also doesn't care... well... I would say time for a new job. In a company I worked for a while ago, management added mandatory field to bugs in JIRA - you had to choose from the list of devs who caused the bug. Needless to say it didn't work very well in the long run...
-- "My software never has bugs. It just develops random features."
-
I created part of a web app. Another dev went in and changed how some code works and a modal dialog stopped working (it shows as an empty modal with only the title, but underneath there's an exception). Guess who was assigned the bug? Of course the creator of the tool, that would be me. This happens from time to time and I hate it. I feel that whoever breaks stuff should be publicly shamed ;) (for example in the CI server's website, but of course my client doesn't have CI...) and responsible for fixing it. I am sure this was discussed a dozen times here, sorry. This really grinds my gears.
In my previous job, a successful (I developed it) application's second version was outsourced, they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for that external development and when it came back, they assigned me to fix it. I think it beats that. :laugh: Also in that marvelous company with stellar management, the CIO used to say that debugging and fixing bugs shouldn't be done by people who developed an application, because they wrote the code and will follow the happy path. Apparently he didn't make a distinction between testing and bug fixing.
-
Ahem. With colleagues, always praise in public and criticize them in private (i.e., to them and not just talking about them behind their back).
-
In my previous job, a successful (I developed it) application's second version was outsourced, they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for that external development and when it came back, they assigned me to fix it. I think it beats that. :laugh: Also in that marvelous company with stellar management, the CIO used to say that debugging and fixing bugs shouldn't be done by people who developed an application, because they wrote the code and will follow the happy path. Apparently he didn't make a distinction between testing and bug fixing.
Kamen Nik wrote:
debugging and fixing bugs shouldn't be done by people who developed an application
It's good to be KING!! (See Mel Brook's History of the World Part I[^]) This terrible logic would seem to create sub-human RULERS who think everything they produce is perfect. (In an exercise of self-control, I will not mention anything toilet-related here.) Blithely they roll on. Ignorance of our own failures is the most beautifully ugly thing. :D
-
CBadger wrote:
NO WAY! You mean to tell me bugs are caused by others? :OMG: :WTF:
Or Microsoft. :-O