In the gig where I am there is sometimes documentation for things and sometimes not. It's a bit of a lottery. I was recently asked to implement a bespoke "email listener" sub system into one of the new processes I was developing.
I knew nothing of this sub system, not where to find it or how to use it so I asked the person responsible this
"There is a requirement to use this technology. Is there any supporting documentation that can be made available for me to read in advance?
Many thanks"
And I got this response
"In an ideal world there would always be documentation, wouldn't there?"
I've think he is getting narked as I have maybe asked him once before about some documentation. He is the head of standards and documentation forms a large part of this job.
I realise in practice there is never any time to do the documentation as the business wants, and there may be a good intention to go back and do the documentation but it never does.
As a contractor it's fine as it takes three times as long to get anything done because you have to trawl through code and reverse engineer what has been done before you can get started.
I genuinely believe the peeps here would do the housekeeping if only they were given the time, but it's not revenue earning the way they bill their clients. As more and more systems get created, there is more and more vagueness about how things work.
I wonder if there actually exists a company out there that adheres to development standards rigidly, has nice neat proof read documentation about everything, and what it is like to work in that kind of environment. Is the grass any greener, or is it like living in the Truman show.
Formal methods and rigid documentation, or OK Corale coyboy code, or somewhere in between?
I knew nothing of this sub system, not where to find it or how to use it so I asked the person responsible this
"There is a requirement to use this technology. Is there any supporting documentation that can be made available for me to read in advance?
Many thanks"
And I got this response
"In an ideal world there would always be documentation, wouldn't there?"
I've think he is getting narked as I have maybe asked him once before about some documentation. He is the head of standards and documentation forms a large part of this job.
I realise in practice there is never any time to do the documentation as the business wants, and there may be a good intention to go back and do the documentation but it never does.
As a contractor it's fine as it takes three times as long to get anything done because you have to trawl through code and reverse engineer what has been done before you can get started.
I genuinely believe the peeps here would do the housekeeping if only they were given the time, but it's not revenue earning the way they bill their clients. As more and more systems get created, there is more and more vagueness about how things work.
I wonder if there actually exists a company out there that adheres to development standards rigidly, has nice neat proof read documentation about everything, and what it is like to work in that kind of environment. Is the grass any greener, or is it like living in the Truman show.
Formal methods and rigid documentation, or OK Corale coyboy code, or somewhere in between?
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