Most disastrous project you've ever worked on

[DS23]

depends on the disaster.

there was the one where the agency went bust.

then there was the one where my father got lung cancer.

then there was he one where i missed my flight, lost my phone, drove all night, got lost in Paris, arrived late, gave everyone my stinking cold and only got two days work for my trouble.

mostly the projects are the same: requirements, documentation, systems, politics, deadlines, travel. bring to the boil and stir. try not to curdle and spill.

[lambrini_socialist]

my worst project (as a permie actually, working for everyone's second-favourite liberal media outlet) was the one where at every weekly status meeting - right from the word go - all the coders said the same thing: either drop some features, or bring in some more staff, otherwise we will miss the deadline with 100% certainty. of course every week we got ignored, until when we got right up against the deadline, a certain ****witted manager tried to blame it all on us for going too slow, doing "too much testing" and other clueless nonsense, when in fact all we'd been doing was behaving professionally and communicating clearly + honestly about how much effort was required.

so i quit in disgust. it's the only time i've ever abandoned a project before it was done and it didn't feel good, but seriously, that's no way to treat programmers! we're not bloody typists!

[DieScum]

Sales people had sold a bunch of cool sounding technology that was completely unsuitable. The client had accepted it.

Leaving a bunch of techies in between trying to get something workable . Which would have involved using older, trusted tech and pretty much discarding the new tech bought for millions.

I was a permie consultant who was supposed to be promoting the cool new tech. Kind of hard when it just isn't the right tool for the job.

[BrilloPad]

Working for Citibank in 1994 : tried to do a purist OO project.

Anything purist is bound to fail.......

[minestrone]

I have to admit that in my 10 years working as a coder I have wasted about 5 years working on code that has never, and will never, see a production system.

There are people in charge of projects who do not have the first clue about software development.

You always know when a software project is going nowhere but you just keep your head down and keep invoicing.

[Lockhouse]

20 years ago I spent a year as a technical analyst working on a huge retail project for a major computer manufacturer. $6.5 million (a fortune 20 years ago) and 200 developers later the client pulled out leaving the manufacturer to pick up the tab. I ended up backing up 200 man years worth of work onto one 6250bpi tape and was asked to take it offsite for backup. That tape is still in my loft.

[AlfredJPruffock]

Investment Banking Infra - after three months I managed to collapse the entire Global Banking System - looks impressive on the CV though.

[TykeMerc]

Investment Banking Infra - after three months I managed to collapse the entire Global Banking System - looks impressive on the CV though.

That one could be tricky to beat!!

[SirSickboy]

The project i'm currently working is doomed.

Client is not entirely sure what they want.

Project manager is not sure what the client wants and keeps coming up with half baked specs that do very little except poorly describe some data entry screens.

Client signs off half baked spec which then goes into development.

Product delivered, client changes mind resulting in a massive rewrite.

Rinse and repeat.

Thankfully i'm off mid january.

[moorfield]

My current one - it got canned last week, not through lack of technical or managerial incompetence but lack of a business case in the credit crunch.