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> The other way is to just go skunk and fix a problem. Then if the fix works and people appreciate it, you get more latitude the next time you want to fix somet

by hsn915 5y ago

> The other way is to just go skunk and fix a problem. Then if the fix works and people appreciate it, you get more latitude the next time you want to fix something. This might surprise you but people don't like you fixing their mess behind their back. They take it as personal insult. They correctly recognize that you think what they did is messy and bad and you fixing it looks to them like an attempt to dethrone them from whatever little position they have carved for themselves within the organization.

quickthrower2 5y ago
Yes! I agree. Best to fix up code of people who are long gone instead. No one else will touch it so no merge conflicts either! Just make sure the fix makes others appreciate it. The populist fixes are fixes in dev tool chains that everyone in the team will appreciate. If you want a hobby just make any part of CI faster for some love from the team.
__turbobrew__ 5y ago
I guess it varies from person to person. If somebody fixed something I wrote without asking I would be thrilled! I recognize that I am imperfect, limited by time, and striving to move to more impactful projects so I would be more than happy if somebody wants to improve a system I was inexperienced with or didn’t have the time to fix. I would probably give them the low down on the system and try to transfer maintainership of the system to them.
- exikyut 5y ago
  Reading the GP comment (going skunk), I wondered if the factors behind that turning out positively was the position of the fixer relative to the code/systems in question. If they're not stepping on anyone else's toes it works great. This comment echoes that sentiment a bit, I think; there's an implicit dependency in there on the project not having a collective structural investment, whether that's explicit (overt, with explicitly delineated boundaries) or implicit (implied, fuzzy, part of collective culture), on the thing being fixed.
tunesmith 5y ago
In a healthy team no one person owns an area of the code, and most complex areas are a weird amalgamation of several people's commits anyway. I haven't worked with anyone who takes fixes as personal insults for a very long time.

by hsn915 5y ago

quickthrower2 5y ago

Yes! I agree. Best to fix up code of people who are long gone instead. No one else will touch it so no merge conflicts either! Just make sure the fix makes others appreciate it. The populist fixes are fixes in dev tool chains that everyone in the team will appreciate. If you want a hobby just make any part of CI faster for some love from the team.

__turbobrew__ 5y ago

I guess it varies from person to person. If somebody fixed something I wrote without asking I would be thrilled! I recognize that I am imperfect, limited by time, and striving to move to more impactful projects so I would be more than happy if somebody wants to improve a system I was inexperienced with or didn’t have the time to fix. I would probably give them the low down on the system and try to transfer maintainership of the system to them.

exikyut 5y ago
Reading the GP comment (going skunk), I wondered if the factors behind that turning out positively was the position of the fixer relative to the code/systems in question. If they're not stepping on anyone else's toes it works great. This comment echoes that sentiment a bit, I think; there's an implicit dependency in there on the project not having a collective structural investment, whether that's explicit (overt, with explicitly delineated boundaries) or implicit (implied, fuzzy, part of collective culture), on the thing being fixed.

tunesmith 5y ago

In a healthy team no one person owns an area of the code, and most complex areas are a weird amalgamation of several people's commits anyway. I haven't worked with anyone who takes fixes as personal insults for a very long time.