[ale] Wandering into the OT tar pit (was RE: Wanted: trivial minicom-type function)

[Mills.J at ems-t.com (Mills, John M.)]

From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
To: ale at ale.org
Christopher Fowler
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:23 PM
On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 13:08 -0500, Mills, John M. wrote:
> Once it works we can improve the code as needed.

CF> If I had a dollar for every time we said that in development I'll be
CF> rich.  The problem with that statement is that the reality is that
CF> rewrites never happen.  Forward development can't wait on rewrites.
If
CF> the user don't see a benefit then it never really gets scheduled in.


I've had a couple of cases where I straightened up a design as part of
implementing one or a series of customer requests in a previously
"standard" product. Another occasion is handing the mess off to a
hapless colleague who is better off to re-do than to fix the ^&%(!!.
(_NEVER_ with _my_ work, of course ... &8-)

CF> After 2 years I've finally allowed one of my J2EE developers to do
some
CF> rework for the benefit of the future.  We've always said lets just
hack
CF> it out and we can clean it up later.  This is the life in a bazaar.

I always boot-legged cleanups, so far as I remember. I need a clear idea
before I lift the pencil (oops - showing my age!), or hit the keys.
Struggling with a legacy mess can help 'gel' that up.

 - Mills