Troublesome manager.. what would you do?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48800

by PStamatiou • 19 years ago

8 12 19 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

So I'm a senior at top 10 engineering university and since January I have been working as lead webdev on a large, sponsor/government-funded project. I've done everything from focus groups, usability studies, surveys and have been creating a top-notch site.

I was away for two weeks in the time between summer semester's end and the beginning of fall semester and got an email from my manager saying essentially "hey, I've been working with someone else on the site". What was created from that was a complete bastardization of the design and was all new code. I had lots of PHP for general ease of dev and the new guy did all 50+ files in html.

Fast-forward to yesterday, new guy won't be working on it anymore and my manager wants me to take over. I've looked at this guy's code and it's a horrible mess - I want nothing of it. Deadline is in about a week.

Going back to my code is an equally large task as he had been adding other pages, content and "design features".

What would you do? I'm sure I am not the only one that has had this problem.

wozer• 19 years ago

First talk with your manager. If necessary, talk to your manager's manager (or whoever has a say in it). Explain the situation. If possible, refuse to work on the "horrible mess". That's risky, but it's better than letting your name be associated with that project forever.

run4yourlives2• 19 years ago

1. What is your direct stake in the project? (tied to your grades? Large monetary investment?)

2. What is your extended stake in the project (manager have lots of connections? Is this industry leading and highly visible?)

3. What are the chances you will succeed if you start work again?

Based on the answers to these three questions (which I know will be difficult to obtain) you should make one of the following choices:

1. Politely refuse to work on the project, saying you've committed to other things and do not want to over-extend yourself.

2. Bite the bullet and fix the project based either on you code or the current mess. (and shut up about things until you're done) Walk away once released.

3. Perform some type of negotiations with the manager: (e.g. extend the deadline (all deadlines can be extended), limit the scope of the release, limit the expectations of you) and schedule a post-release evaluation of the project and your role in it.

PStamatiou• 19 years ago

I got two semesters worth of credits towards my major. However, those two semesters are now over and I've gotten my grades. I feel like somewhat obligated to help if he can't find anyone else but I have my own stuff to do with a ton of CS classes assigning projects now.

"manager have lots of connections?" - the project is in a different department than my major so it wouldn't help me.

"Is this industry leading and highly visible?" It's up there.

run4yourlives2• 19 years ago

>manager have lots of connections?

I was talking more industry connections. Nobody gives a damn about your schooling once you've done it, to be honest. If your manager however sits on some boards, or is influential in the people that he knows and interacts with, it may be in your best interests to not burn this bridge.

>Is this industry leading and highly visible?

Then you may want to be able to say that you completed it, even if it means you have a couple of shite weeks, otherwise, you can use it as an answer to one of those wacky "worst experience" interview questions.

From what you're saying, I'd strongly lean towards option 2 or 3. Being in the workforce for a few years now, I can't emphasize enough how much it hurts you to burn bridges, no matter how much you're in the right. These people come back to haunt you in peculiar ways.

Good luck. Just remember you have a lot more to lose in this situation by walking away than you have to gain, from what I can gather.

mynameishere• 19 years ago

I can't imagine two weeks causing too much trouble. I've seen crap rewritten over and over on 6-month iterations that could make you weep.

Just say the other guy's design is bad and you're going back to your own. If it's an "equally large task", obviously you're better off with a familiar code base. Suggest to the manager that he should not swap devs in and out of a project in time frames normally smaller than those used to ramp up new workers.

paul_reiners• 19 years ago

I would ask for a lot more money to finish the job (a lot more) and say "take it or leave it". If he isn't willing to pay the extra money, I would just walk away.

There's nothing to be gained from debating with a troublesome manager who doesn't understand programming. You would just be wasting your time.

jey• 19 years ago

Throw away his two weeks of work, and negotiate the deadline. It's not your fault that your boss went out and hired someone entirely incompetent without even consulting you.

If the deadline is a must, just work with the awful crap he has to get to the deadline, and scrap the crap immediately after the deadline.

nickb• 19 years ago

Take it from the point from which you left it. Tell your manager that it would take more time trying to fix it tan to scrap these changes. If he says no, why waste your time doing something you hate doing?!

omouse• 19 years ago

"Deadline is in about a week."

Impossible to do a re-write and he'll shift the blame to you.

menloparkbum• 19 years ago

A week is more than enough time to massage 50+ html files into whatever you were doing before. Just do it in a couple hours and take the rest of the week off.

aswanson• 19 years ago

Quit and do a startup.

gcheong• 19 years ago

Use version control?

Troublesome manager.. what would you do?

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