[ale] Over on thedailywtf

Christopher Fowler cfowler at outpostsentinel.com
Sat May 27 12:31:16 EDT 2006


On Fri, 2006-05-26 at 13:50 -0400, KingBahamut wrote:
> After the embarrassing gaffe at the client was finally over, Ian

You can't blame the programmers for all of it.  The problem is that Ian
had more important things to do than test the code before he showed it
to the client.  The first thing he should have done was test that code!
If he would have done it earlier in the week he could have saved himself
some embarrassment. 

At ADP I flew around the country installing programs and database
engines.  We knew for a fact that the documentation was crap and
following the installation documentation would give us problems.  We
tested each install before leaving on a plane.  It was rehearsed over
and over again and we had our own internal documentation.

The motto is that if it is you that is in front of a customer then it
your responsibility to test it first.  Otherwise you will be in an
awkward position.  The story presented talks about the problems of
outsourcing but never brings to light the major screwup that Ian did.

#1 Know your consultants and know their environment
#2 Always test something before showing a customer/prospect.





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