Being told to fix bugs caused by others
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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
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CBadger wrote:
NO WAY! You mean to tell me bugs are caused by others? :OMG: :WTF:
Or Microsoft. :-O
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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
Impossible! Everyone breaks something once in a while and when everyone is publicly shamed there is no public to watch the shaming and thus no one is publicly shamed. Now let me find that post where your colleague said the same about your code... :D
public class SanderRossel : Lazy<Person>
{
public void DoWork()
{
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
} -
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.
That's 'caused'. There. Now it's fixed.
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That's 'caused'. There. Now it's fixed.
I'm not a native English speaker, so I'd appreciate if you could elaborate. :) Perhaps the word choice is incorrect in the first place. Maybe one can't "cause" a bug. I guess I should have said "introduced".
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I'm not a native English speaker, so I'd appreciate if you could elaborate. :) Perhaps the word choice is incorrect in the first place. Maybe one can't "cause" a bug. I guess I should have said "introduced".
Sorry Pawel, I was just joking about the slight spelling mistake in your heading. It was a bug. 'Caused' is a good word to use. And I see you fixed it! :-D
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Like Windows Vista
»»» Loading Signature «««· · · Please Wait · · ·:badger: :badger: :badger: -
What, there are unemployed software engineers?!
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I used to list HTML under known programming languages on my CV. ;)
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I thought Vista was a virus. I tried installing XP but Vista insists it's a "better version". Now I just use 3.1 and have no viruses!
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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.
<OldWarStory>When I graduated from college, I went to work for the same company I'd worked for as an intern. My boss was pretty overbearing and judgmental. We wrote a data acquisition system for a customer, and were doing some on-site debugging. On the first day, I fixed an issue we found. A couple days later, the issue started happening again, and my boss starts yelling at me. I looked at the code, and my fix was gone. The original code had been restored. Come to find out, my boss didn't like how I'd done something else and restored an earlier version of the entire source file, without regard to any changes. The remaining two days of the trip, and the 8-hour drive home, were spent in utter silence on my part. During the drive home he tried to half-way apologize, but the damage was done.</OldWarStory>Software Zen:
delete this; -
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.
You have my deepest sympathies.
Some years back, my department was afflicted with a manager who thought he could and should "fix the inefficiencies" in other people's code. The responsibility for dealing with problems he created invariably wound up on those hapless "other people's" desks...mine included. The ill will he generated that way was thick enough to be carved into entrée portions and served with hollandaise sauce.
Needless to say, the manager was never taken to task by his superiors for his arrogant interference in things he knew next to nothing about. However, the problem went away when he met an untimely demise: run over by an SUV, right in our very own parking lot. And they say there's no justice in this world!
(This message is programming you in ways you cannot detect. Be afraid.)
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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.
Well this is a matter of the tension between 'get her done' and teaching. The solution my currant company has come up with is using a web based code review system. When I get someone else bug, I fix it, but then I make sure they are on the code review so they can see the fix. If they are someone I know well, I will talk with them about what and why I did it. This allows me to get her done for the business while still making it a teaching opportunity. Mind you, if the other developer does not care, I totally agree with the other poster that said you need to take that to your manager, that IS why they are there:)
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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.
Maybe you can take this negative and turn it into a positive. A true team really doesn't need a manager or to be publicly shamed, they're able to communicate among themselves and tackle issues together. Play dumb and ask the guy that wrote the code to help you. Point out the error and ask for his input. Get an understanding of what he did and hopefully he gets an understanding of what you did.
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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.
When it comes to breaking builds, our culture is that the one who broke it is quick to at least say they investigate it, lest their inbox fills up with "friendly reminders" from all the others. As for bugs: We tend to use "You were the last to touch it!", the the age-old unwritten rule that has governed many a playground over the millennia. I'm not necessarily for shaming someone who trips and falls (as others have said, we all do from time to time), but if that someone then refuses to fix their mess, or tries to get away from fixing it, that's a whole different ballgame.
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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.
Happy me. Found another bug caused by the same developer during the same changes, but in a different place. I fixed the last bug...
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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.
I agree, this is a great approach. YOU are responsible for YOUR CULTURE. I say you work with the Team, and do stuff like this. Find cool ways to celebrate the process and "reward" the problem children. We had padded karate blocking sticks. We could opt for a public (among developers, all getting their licks in) beating (body shots only). It did not hurt, but boy was it fun. I took the first beating for SIMPLY NOT coming up with the idea sooner... That got everyone into the spirit. Finally, where are the code reviews? People who break things often MUST have their code reviewed by their peers before publishing.
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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.
Trophies like this work great, just don't let management get their hands on it or the award process. Ideally, don't even let them know what its all about, so there's no chance they can use who's got it against them. At my previous job, the other developer and I instituted a couple of different trophies for various mistakes. They were great fun for years, until management made a big deal out of awarding one of them to one of the developers in a big public display in front of some customers who had come to visit. We never awarded the trophies ever again -- they weren't fun anymore and management obviously took too much notice of who was getting them.
We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.
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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.
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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.
There are several ways to look at this Maybe you are the best person to fix the bug and prevent it from happening again. Maybe you did a bad job. No supporting documentation, no comments etc..., basically no knowledge transfer which is often the case. Ego meshed in with the code. ... ... Regards, Ousmane
