How Tidy Is Your Plumbing?
I'm back. Were you worried? Don't be, I didn't blow myself up. It's just been a bit hectic chez Jake for the past few days. I.T has been the last thing on my mind. Well, until a comment by the plumber got me thinking. He'd come back to disconnect our cooker hob from the gas supply and I asked if he could remove some unnecessary pipework while he was at it. He didn't seem that keen, arguing that it would be out of site below the floorboards and, so, didn't matter. This is true, but every now and then I have reason to go below decks to fix stuff and so I will see it.
Can you see where I'm going with this analogy? I think it's going to be a good one - better than my usual.
Imagine the plumber is me, a coder, and I am a customer whose website I'm his working on. The customer asks me to remove some unsightly code in the source HTML that's no longer needed. I refuse on the grounds that it's below the boards and never seen. You can imagine that the customer would not be happy.
In my case the plumber's refusal to do it will ultimately lead to me, the customer, doing it myself. This is when things get messy. Imagine the consequences of me dicking about with the gas pipes!
There are two types of people in most trades - those who care enough about their work to keep it completely tidy and those that don't think it's that important as it's unseen for the most part. To credit the plumber he's done an amazing job on the bits you can see. So, why not on all bits?
There are good reasons for caring too. If another plumber came here in ten years time he'd understand the system a lot easier if all the pipework was laid out well. The same goes for coding. We should keep it tidy for the sake of future developers, even if the actual customer never sees it. Good analogy?
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Jake,
I agree completely, after an initial period of building applications quickly to get the job done, we are now in the process of tidying up the code 'under the floor' to use your analogy. I know its a bit geeky but having it validate correctly and look tidy in the source gives a certain amount of warm and fuzzy feeling! Not to mention making it a heck of a lot easier to maintain.
Jason
Yes, we spend a lot of time laying out the html to make it easy to read (and hopefully maintain when the client wants something new added). It is however a pity that the Domino Designer does not provide any help in structuring html.
I agree with cleaning up !!! And not just the I am working at a client right now, where they had their online-shop built 3 years ago or so. Now I came in here and was asked to clean it up a bit before we would rebuild some bits.
I can tell you I went home with a serious headache every day for about a month !!!
To start with, there was NO documentation of the whole application (think about 20 databases, all connected somewhere). There was no central DB with code and layout settings (every form and page had its own). And in every DB there was at least 50% too much design in it. Forms and views that were never used, agents that had a lot of commented code left in it (for debugging), ..... And the list goes on.
After months of complaining the client finally decided to let me start from scratch with some parts of it. Saves me a lot of time. Cause after more than 6 months I am still finding new "pipes".......
Jake,
Word of warning, If anyone ever finds out you tampered with professionally fitted pipes, and there is an accident or leak, you would be in a lot of trouble.
Especially if you had sole the house on.
Be warned!!
Don't worry Gareth, that was just idle chat. I wouldn't touch gas pipes. Anything that can kill me is normally out of bounds. Apart from lecky, which I don't mind tampering with. Even though I'm not supposed to do that either. Damn regulations. Most of which aren't worth the paper. At the end of the day, they have to prove it was me. I just have to say it was a certified electrician but I've lost his number. I won't lose sleep over doing my own work on the wiring or plumbing.
Then again, there is the occasional bullet/shrapnel that a doctor will leave in place.
That gruesome analogy aside, I can think of nothing less fun than cleaning up someone else's messy code.
An interesting analogy.
I always try to leave behind tidy and well commented design/code. After all, it might be me that has to come back and maintain it :->
It's easier to do this when you're "in-house", but not so easy when you're a supplier. The pressure is there to do things as quickly as possible. There's also little chance that you'll ever get the opportunity to clean things up later.
To my mind, it has to be a balance between speed and quality - although that's not a straight line curve.
And what if the plumber, in cleaning up the old pipes, causes more damage, more work? We, as consultants, are often tagged with making their own work.
To understand this more broadly, simply look at the lines of code / defect ratios published for Windows vs Linux, and the realative build / deploy sizes of each. MS leaves a mess behind habitually and it really does bite everyone in the end.
Great analogy. The difference in doing "enough to get by" and "doing it right", while not always immediately visible, is enormous. The plumber (or coder) who does things right will get called back for more work. The one who just does enough to get by will, in the long run, not.
-Devin.
You just made me remember how it was in the UK, when I lived there 8 years ago.
You see, I'm from Sweden and moved to the UK with the company I worked for and had similar problem with the company I rented a TV from.
The TV just stopped working, so I phoned the company and eventually we agreed that they would send someone over the following wednesday. Of course they could not commit to a time, just sometime that day, so I had to take a whole day off from work.
When wednesday came I was expecting to watch a fotball game in the evening. It was England vs Sweden. You may think I was looking forward to see it on a fresh TV. Late afternoon, nobody had showed up, I phoned them up and asked where they where?
They had forgot it and I was told they would definitally be there the following wednesday. Naturally I got angry and asked why on earth they could not come the next day. The answer was that this person who was going to my place was the person that covered my living area.
Duh?
Do you think that is the end of the story. Hell no, it has just started.
The following week, on that wednesday (anonther day of from work), this guy parked his big van outside my house. I could see (in my mind hown many TV's that must be in his car). I rang the door bell and walked in to the TV and tried to switch it on. After approximately 45 seconds he turns to me and says, "The TV is not working". I ask him if he needs any help when we are going to replace it with the new TV in his car. He looks at my very strangely and then he said "My job is not to replace a TV, I'm here to verify that the TV is broken. You need to make another phone call to order a new TV".
The next day at work, at lunch time, I'm telling this story to everybody around the table. When I have ended the story, suddenly the lightening struck and the whole building looses power. Somebody at the table says "I hope it want take too long before we get the electricity back, because I have some really important task I need to finnish.
You can guess what my reply was?.
Depends on if they fixing power-outages in this area this day of the week.
Henrik
If only that kind of tale was a one-off! There seems to be no ability of tradespeople to commit to anything unless of course it is to sell you something you don't want or need...
In my experience, clients / customers deserve the professional (or otherwise) service providers they deserve.
I understand clients / customers who want to get the best deal, we all do.
But please use only qualified (CORGI registered) professionals who are registered to carry out work on, in this case gas cookers (this will be recorded on the back of the professionals CORGI card).
Do not tinker with gas in your own home you are in fact breaking the law and potentially endangering not only your own life but your next door neighbors, and in the case of a serious gas leak the whole street of houses.
Additionally, do not be tempted to tinker with the electrical circuits as currently you will be breaching IEE wiring regulations and potentially breaking the Electricity at work act 1989.
Gareth Hay is correct, when the Home Information Pack (HIP) s introduced, you may well be required to produce certificates for the electrical installation, and gas installation (electrical certificate, periodic inspection report / gas safety check report) to prove they are both in good safe working order and comply with the regulations, gas, electrical and building, if not you may not get buildings insurance and may not be able to sell your home.