Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Unqualified Destructors

About six months ago I had a project at work that I poured myself into for about 4 weeks. Everyday I worked on it. I thought about it at night while at home. Every ounce of energy was dedicated to problem solving and implementing this new business application. I succeeded in every way, and the app has been a great success.

On Thursday of last week, my manager asked me to make some updates to the data and layout of the application. Not a problem. Then she tells me she needs it done by Wednesday morning. Not a huge problem - it will just consume me for a few days. And then I get into the guts of the database and realize that this is gonna be terrible. Data that should have been there wasn't and data that should've been in one place was sometimes there and sometimes it was either missing or misplaced. So now I have a really huge mess on my hands.

This is what happens when untrained, uneducated people get their hands on things they shouldn't be granted access to. The problem isn't just that these people add or change stuff which can really destroy everything. It's also that they honestly think they know what they are doing, and that they are "helping" the situation. So they don't realize that they are screwing it all up and they don't undertsnad how much time fixing it can take.

I'm frustrated with managers and supervisors who think they understand or know how everything works, and thus feel free to change or modify them at will. Don't do it! Unless you have been to school to learn programming, don't try it. Oh, and a two day "training course" at the local corporate sponsored off-site training zoo doesn't count. So back off before you ruin something else!

I'm hoping to fix this thing and get it off of my desk by the end of today.
I'm hoping I don't walk down the hall and strangle two of the people who I know screwed this up first.
It's a sunny Tuesday, but it feels oh so much like a rainy Monday.

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