4 ms·

The corollary to a) that I deal with all the time is third party integrations that are poorly documented and that after some time X start magically working even

The corollary to a) that I deal with all the time is third party integrations that are poorly documented and that after some time X start magically working even though the third party changed nothing on their side (according to them). Management always thinks "We've integrated things with this vendor before, it will be a snap to do again on a totally different endpoint" and this is never the case.

aidos 13y ago
My last job was in an agency that used to build websites for a fixed cost. After a few years of doing it we changed the policy so that integrations were charged as time and materials. You just can't judge how long it's going to take when you have to deal with an external organisation. Hell, one of the projects I was working on before I left (a year ago) was started 2 years ago - and it's still going on. It's just a simple authentication integration but they're at the mercy of the other party. No actual code has been written but plenty of developer hours have been wasted - including mine.
- mathattack 13y ago
  Integration is one of the biggest problems because there are the most unknown unknowns, to quote Rumsfeld. You don't know what spontaneous changes will happen, and you frequently can't control the resources on the other side.
Finster 13y ago
Then there's Facebook. "We integrated with Facebook a few months ago, it should be easy to do it again." Famous last words. I've lost count of how many times I've become an "expert" at some aspect of Facebook integration to have it be completely different just a few months later. Google is also really bad about this, at least in the past year or so. It almost makes me want to quit webdev and be a dba or something.
- rantanplan 13y ago
  Feel ya. So many API's and yet it seems like there is no interface - since they change all the time. Might as well don't have them at all. DBA it is then.
- informatimago 13y ago
  This is done on purpose. While others are trying to play catch upmwith their API, they're busy advancing things like robotcars with no competition.
zwieback 13y ago
Exactly. Same for non-commodity hardware. Come to think of it, even true for commodity hardware.

aidos 13y ago

My last job was in an agency that used to build websites for a fixed cost. After a few years of doing it we changed the policy so that integrations were charged as time and materials. You just can't judge how long it's going to take when you have to deal with an external organisation. Hell, one of the projects I was working on before I left (a year ago) was started 2 years ago - and it's still going on. It's just a simple authentication integration but they're at the mercy of the other party. No actual code has been written but plenty of developer hours have been wasted - including mine.

mathattack 13y ago
Integration is one of the biggest problems because there are the most unknown unknowns, to quote Rumsfeld. You don't know what spontaneous changes will happen, and you frequently can't control the resources on the other side.

Finster 13y ago

Then there's Facebook. "We integrated with Facebook a few months ago, it should be easy to do it again." Famous last words. I've lost count of how many times I've become an "expert" at some aspect of Facebook integration to have it be completely different just a few months later. Google is also really bad about this, at least in the past year or so. It almost makes me want to quit webdev and be a dba or something.

rantanplan 13y ago
Feel ya. So many API's and yet it seems like there is no interface - since they change all the time. Might as well don't have them at all. DBA it is then.
informatimago 13y ago
This is done on purpose. While others are trying to play catch upmwith their API, they're busy advancing things like robotcars with no competition.

zwieback 13y ago

Exactly. Same for non-commodity hardware. Come to think of it, even true for commodity hardware.