Project is a poisoned chalice - when to walk away?

[Freaki Li Cuatre]

4 weeks into a project that has just gone live by the seat of its pants & it's falling over right left & centre. So they want us to fix everything, support and test it while developing more functionality.

I've only just got fully acquainted with the system in the mad panic to roll it out.

Basically, I've walked into a right royal Indian mess .

Code first EF implementation using independent associations resulting in a back end with no referential integrity, unpredictable cascading deletes going on and other such undesirable things. A poorly implemented unit of work pattern, probably copied from Code Project - with repository instances knocking around in the controller classes (this is MVC). Boolean flags everywere - it seems that every new bit of complexity added to the use case has resulted in the crowbar-ing in of these flags right left and centre & it's already a load of spaghetti with just the most basic functionality in place.

And don't get me started on the Javascript It uses angularJS - and I can see its strengths - but the validation for every single control is a separate function called something along the lines of shouldButtonBeDisabled() and there are hundreds of them. I could go on but it's too depressing...

I'm not a lead dev on this project - I'm the last one to join the team & the other 2 seem happy plodding away adding to this spaghetti. We're not really going anywhere - in fact every fix that is made just seems to break more things. Unless it's one of my fixes of course....

At what point do you take it upon yourself to go to the management and tell them what a pile of cack their application is & that it has no chance of succeeding unless they allow us to step back and do a serious bit of redesign of what we already have - especially the data layer? I would be pointing fingers here - and i feel a little bad about it - but I'm working weekends & long days & have had enough of the crap other people are checking in screwing everything up and making us all look like chumps.

Or do I just walk?

[FatLazyContractor]

4 weeks into a project that has just gone live by the seat of its pants & it's falling over right left & centre. So they want us to fix everything, support and test it while developing more functionality.

I've only just got fully acquainted with the system in the mad panic to roll it out.

Basically, I've walked into a right royal Indian mess .

That, to me, is the best part of the project. You have an opportunity to set things right and provide your client what the Indians couldn't i.e. value for money spent.
First and foremost task could be gathering evidence if you want to prove that the developers were drunk while coding. You seem to have some decent factual evidence that should help you prove that the development methodology followed was tulip manure.

The questions you need to think about are:
- How good is your relationship with the client's Technical lead/manager? You don't want to pi$$ on their parade when they don't have a technical 'frame of mind'.
- When was the first time you noticed the issues you stated above? You got to be careful if you want to rock the boat. That will probably be one of the obvious questions you shall be asked if you try to escalate this.

I would be pointing fingers here - and i feel a little bad about it - but I'm working weekends & long days & have had enough of the crap other people are checking in screwing everything up and making us all look like chumps.

Or do I just walk?

Nothing wrong in pointing fingers as long as you don't get trapped in your own gooey. Do it only if you have a plan to fix the crap put in by other developers.

I hope you are billing them for the weekend work ?! Good luck

HTH

[tarbera]

4 weeks into a project that has just gone live by the seat of its pants & it's falling over right left & centre. So they want us to fix everything, support and test it while developing more functionality.

I've only just got fully acquainted with the system in the mad panic to roll it out.

Basically, I've walked into a right royal Indian mess .

Code first EF implementation using independent associations resulting in a back end with no referential integrity, unpredictable cascading deletes going on and other such undesirable things. A poorly implemented unit of work pattern, probably copied from Code Project - with repository instances knocking around in the controller classes (this is MVC). Boolean flags everywere - it seems that every new bit of complexity added to the use case has resulted in the crowbar-ing in of these flags right left and centre & it's already a load of spaghetti with just the most basic functionality in place.

And don't get me started on the Javascript It uses angularJS - and I can see its strengths - but the validation for every single control is a separate function called something along the lines of shouldButtonBeDisabled() and there are hundreds of them. I could go on but it's too depressing...

I'm not a lead dev on this project - I'm the last one to join the team & the other 2 seem happy plodding away adding to this spaghetti. We're not really going anywhere - in fact every fix that is made just seems to break more things. Unless it's one of my fixes of course....

At what point do you take it upon yourself to go to the management and tell them what a pile of cack their application is & that it has no chance of succeeding unless they allow us to step back and do a serious bit of redesign of what we already have - especially the data layer? I would be pointing fingers here - and i feel a little bad about it - but I'm working weekends & long days & have had enough of the crap other people are checking in screwing everything up and making us all look like chumps.

Or do I just walk?

Wow you have joined my project

Don't worry I will sigh your time sheet

[tomtomagain]

At what point do you take it upon yourself to go to the management and tell them what a pile of cack their application is & that it has no chance of succeeding

Nothing good would come of that. It's like telling your friend his wife's having an affair. He's more likely to hit you than thank you.

If it is really a pile of steaming-poo then the entire management chain is culpable. So the last thing they need when they've got a cover-up job on their hands is someone who understands what's going on. Better to play it safe and axe the mouthy contractor who's "only been here 4 weeks and doesn't understand"

Bide your time, figure out what is wrong, but don't implement the solution yet. Wait until sheer desperation sets in and they've stopped listening to the incumbent designers.

As suity says ... these can be the good ones. You can be a hero.

[NotAllThere]

The time to quit is when it could reflect badly on you to stay, or the stress levels affect your health. As has been recommended before - Yourdon's Death March is your friend.

[JRCT]

My last contract was like this, though I'm not a coder, and there were plenty of time that my coat had been got, one arm in.

I kept thinking to myself that every week I was there was another month's bills paid if I did walk. So, it helped me get through the tougher moments.

From a 'professional' point of view, I think, as has been pointed out, you have to have a solution. Claiming the process is rubbish is not going to be a revelation to anyone. Some people know this and are happy to plod along billing for it. Others want to do the right thing.

When I heard that we were now aiming for 'minimum viable product', that was the trigger for me to get out.

[perplexed]

Nothing good would come of that. It's like telling your friend his wife's having an affair. He's more likely to hit you than thank you.

If it is really a pile of steaming-poo then the entire management chain is culpable. So the last thing they need when they've got a cover-up job on their hands is someone who understands what's going on. Better to play it safe and axe the mouthy contractor who's "only been here 4 weeks and doesn't understand"

Bide your time, figure out what is wrong, but don't implement the solution yet. Wait until sheer desperation sets in and they've stopped listening to the incumbent designers.

As suity says ... these can be the good ones. You can be a hero.

You can be a hero. Or you can be a scapegoat.

Project goes nipples vertical, PMs etc aren't going to their bosses and say "well, we were always in trouble, we should have listened to the contractor". A good PM may, but their bosses will be in full on arse covering mode for the most part.

Having said that, how many future clients are going to care that you worked on a failed project - unless incredibly public, would they even know the project failed at all? If the project is getting to you - stress, frustration - then that can affect your health, I'd be out the door. If it's the case that you're comfortable doing whatever the work needs to be, relatively "easy life" then see it out and invoice. Focus upon making sure YOUR parts of the project are fully documented, tested and of high quality - keeping evidence - to avoid any comeback.

[jmo21]

How do the important numbers stack up?

Rate, contract length (never guaranteed of course), travel time, number of other available roles, war chest.

3 months on a good rate, close to home. Stick it out.

Do you want to learn Angular, is this a good way to do so (learning from mistakes etc)?

Any other positives that could make it worth sticking it out?

Others have said it's a good opportunity. I'm not convinced from what you describe. Sounds like exactly the type of place that will not listen to the new non-dev lead contractor.

[BrilloPad]

What would suity do?

[Sausage Surprise]

At what point do you take it upon yourself to go to the management and tell them what a pile of cack their application is & that it has no chance of succeeding unless they allow us to step back and do a serious bit of redesign of what we already have
Or do I just walk?

Be careful...the last time I did this I was benched (6 weeks in to a 6 monther) as it was not want the consultancy wanted the client to hear.