Dealing with Difficult Development?

jjwahl queries: "I've recently been handed a funded web development project, and in an industry where almost any paid work is good work this is a welcome opportunity. This database intensive site basically has the look and feel developed but none of the plumbing. I have been given the job to create the database and write the code to make the site work - all at a reasonably good rate and with a time and materials payment structure (i.e. this is not a fixed cost project). Sounds like good news, right? Not necessarily." The company wants the work done in a timeframe that prevents a well thought out design and pretty much eliminates a decent testing phase. How would you handle working on such a project?

"Why [is this not good news]?

The project timeline is insanely short given the complexity; there is nothing of substance developed yet - no schema, nothing; given the timeline, all schema development will have to be done on the fly - no time to sit down, take a holistic view of the project and develop the schema properly; and there is also no timeline for testing - other than the ad-hoc testing a developer does, there is no time for formal testing at all. All of this means that I'm basically going to develop this site on the fly which means that I'll eventually make mistakes, and won't have a proper testing cycle during which I could catch them -- the public will catch them, instead and complain.

I'm afraid that despite my heroic efforts to bring this site to fruition, this job will look sloppyand reflect badly on me. Have any of you been in a similar situation? How did you deal with it? Should I just turn the project down?"

Comments

If you do it, do it properly...

[arb]

...or at the very least, know which are the right corners to cut. No matter how tight the deadline, you have to do some design work. Before you agree to take this job on, sit down with the client and explain to them the (very real) risks of not doing any design or testing. Make sure they are very clear on this. Then, if the client still insists on such a tight schedule, suggest a staged deployment.

What functionality is absolutely vital to the project? What can be delayed until a second release? Do not accept the client's initial response that all the functionality is of equal importance. No matter what the project is, there is surely some features that can be delayed slightly. This will open up some breathing room in the schedule.

Once again, make sure the client knows exactly how much of the project you will be delivering at each stage, and get them to sign a document outlining the deliverables for each stage. If you don't get the client to sign off, you could be screwed over down the track.

If the client is still insistent on tight deadlines and minimal or no testing and you are crazy enough to take this on, make sure you get them to sign a document stating that the decision to do minimal testing is theirs and that they are aware of the massive risks they are taking. Do not start this type of project without making it perfectly clear that it could go to hell in a handbasket if the system is released to production without adequate testing.

I was in the situation where we had to design, build and implement a system in a very short time frame. (Y2K project, started in Nov 1999!) The client was made aware of the risks, and my supervisor almost came to blows with him over the issue of testing. My supervisor was insisting on putting testing into the project plan. (Okay, his idea of testing was pretty scary - run the app and punch in some dummy data. No real methodology behind it, but at least it was something...) The client freaked when he saw that the project would take 3 months, thus pushing the release date to Feb 2000 - obviously no good. The client then made the decision to do no testing (apart from developer's bench testing) and he wrote a memo to that effect. as it turned out, there was one nasty bug that crept into the system, but the client was happy to wear the cost of fixing it and out butts were covered. He absolutely needed the app in place by midnight on Dec 31 1999, so he was willing to accept a potentially buggy product.

Take the time to document the requirements. Take the time to design the system. If the client wants to accept the risks of reduced testing, fine, but make them sign something to that effect (and then do even more unit testing as you are coding than you normally would) to CYA.

If in any doubt, don't take the job.