5 ms·

In addition to having a bug "scoreboard". That is so easily gamed it not funny. Grab all the easy bugs, get the top score.

jason_slack 13y ago
I worked a job where this was the case. The "worst" programmers would literally stay late and knock off the easiest fixes. They got credit and were fine. I once spent 2 weeks solving 4 related weird crashes that everyone complained about. Involved rewriting code that when I was finished removed 4,514 lines of code and never crashed again. I had my annual review 2 weeks later and the scoreboard was brought up. I told my boss I should get paid more for removing 4,514 lines of spaghetti from the software that made the "company nut". He laughed at me. 3 days later the CEO came down, personally thanked me as they were flooded with client happiness and took me to lunch. Some ear bending and casual talk about vision...next day the scoreboard was taken down and I was in charge of "core" functionality.
- joezydeco 13y ago
  You'll like this story, then: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Negative_2000_Lines_Of_Code.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Negative_2000_Lin...
  - jason_slack 13y ago
    Wow! That was an interesting read. Thank you!
strangetimes 13y ago
I always find it funny when management lauds developers for aggressive bug fixing. Do they not realize that the developers introduced those bugs in the first place?
- jack-r-abbit 13y ago
  A bug scoreboard needs two columns. One for bugs fixed and one for bugs created. Edit: actually, bug scoreboards need to die in a fire. But until then... they need two columns. :)
  - jason_slack 13y ago
    And a few more columns for: 1. Did you really understand the bug you were fixing? 2. Did you test it at all? 3. Really did you test it?
- workhere-io 13y ago
  Not necessarily the same developers.
Turing_Machine 13y ago
Or even worse, the Wally-from-Dilbert strategy when a bug bounty was announced: "I'm gonna write me a new minivan this afternoon."

jason_slack 13y ago

I worked a job where this was the case. The "worst" programmers would literally stay late and knock off the easiest fixes. They got credit and were fine. I once spent 2 weeks solving 4 related weird crashes that everyone complained about. Involved rewriting code that when I was finished removed 4,514 lines of code and never crashed again. I had my annual review 2 weeks later and the scoreboard was brought up. I told my boss I should get paid more for removing 4,514 lines of spaghetti from the software that made the "company nut". He laughed at me. 3 days later the CEO came down, personally thanked me as they were flooded with client happiness and took me to lunch. Some ear bending and casual talk about vision...next day the scoreboard was taken down and I was in charge of "core" functionality.

joezydeco 13y ago
You'll like this story, then: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Negative_2000_Lines_Of_Code.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Negative_2000_Lin...
- jason_slack 13y ago
  Wow! That was an interesting read. Thank you!

strangetimes 13y ago

I always find it funny when management lauds developers for aggressive bug fixing. Do they not realize that the developers introduced those bugs in the first place?

jack-r-abbit 13y ago
A bug scoreboard needs two columns. One for bugs fixed and one for bugs created. Edit: actually, bug scoreboards need to die in a fire. But until then... they need two columns. :)
- jason_slack 13y ago
  And a few more columns for: 1. Did you really understand the bug you were fixing? 2. Did you test it at all? 3. Really did you test it?
workhere-io 13y ago
Not necessarily the same developers.

Turing_Machine 13y ago

Or even worse, the Wally-from-Dilbert strategy when a bug bounty was announced: "I'm gonna write me a new minivan this afternoon."