How Can a Programmer Make Everyone Happy?

Nuttles1 asks: "Ever since I became a professional programmer, 4 years ago, I have struggled with giving my superiors everything they want. For instance, I have a programming supervisor that stresses correctness in programming first, amount of time needed second, features third, but I also have upper management stressing features and amount of time needed first and correctness of programming a distant second. The nature of my job requires pretty strict deadlines so time is not very variable. So, things get done in a way that fits the time allotted. The problem is that I don't make my direct supervisor happy because of the time constraint shortcuts in correctness must be made. The other problem is that, because I perform within the time constraints, they think that the time constraint can either stay relatively the same or that they can be squeezed a little more. Upper management also expects the advantages of having a strict programmatically correct program (code reuse, loose coupling, ease of maintenance) and are at loss when things are less then perfect after the initial release. It doesn't seem like a programmer can come out ahead. I have read many books but they usually have a utopian viewpoint or view time to develop as a variable. In real life, how do programmers handle this situation?"

Comments

hmmm, is there a missing party here?

[yagu]

Well, from your narrative I see you've landed the ultimate professional progammer position: one where management doesn't listen, tries to squeeze deadlines, and thinks code more than anything else has to be correct (the unfortunate thing about that being your management, the least qualified to say, probably defines correct.)

And, forgive me, I can't help but notice but the word client or customer is not mentioned even once in the narrative which indicates an upside down world for delivering applications (not all that unusual, but still upside down).

Also, you mention superiors, try to be a little less humble, they're likely not. And, you talk about "upper management". When upper management has their uncalloused little fingers all the way down to your level in determining quality, ....

Ultimately, unless you have some strong ties, or visions of fast advancement you'd be no worse off if you looked around a little to see if there is someplace that seems a little more attuned to the real world and a little less pedantic about "coding".

aside: (but related) I first encountered how crazy a world it could be with my first big assignment. I had to sit down with my manager, and our client. The client described what they wanted, and I gave a thumbnail estimate, apparently to the surprise of my manager. Surprise number 1: my manager took me into "the room" and told me never to give an estimate to the client without his approval. (I might agree with certain aspects of this, but I was confident of my estimate and had sort of figured it was part of my responsibility.) He wanted me to double my estimate, and that was what we would base our charge to the client on.

I finished the project ahead of my original estimate -- adding enhancements and extensions to some software we'd purchased from a sister telcom. When I delivered it to the clients, ahead of schedule, I pointed out that part of the original output of the original program was just garbage, i.e., there was no code written around that output, and it had no correlation to the rest of the report. The client knew already and told me they always just ignored that part of the report. I asked if they needed or wanted that part of the report, and their eyes just lit up. So I offered to deliver yet a different version of my code which included a fix for the broken part of the old application. The client was ecstatic, a glowing letter ensued.

My manager took me to "the room" again. I tried to remain calm, waiting for the accolades, perhaps even a bonus? But, he pointed his finger in my face and said, "Don't you ever deliver more to the client than you say you will!". Stunned silence.

Use hierarchy to your advantage

[Mark of THE CITY]

Insist the "higher-ups" go through your direct boss. Not every boss will protect you this way, but unless it's a really small startup, they should, IMO.

Bill Cosby said it best

[Pyromage]

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."

Please the boss that can give you the raise and fire you.

atrocious management

[mosel-saar-ruwer]

Surprise number 1: my manager took me into "the room" and told me never to give an estimate to the client without his approval.

My manager took me to "the room" again. I tried to remain calm, waiting for the accolades, perhaps even a bonus? But, he pointed his finger in my face and said, "Don't you ever deliver more to the client than you say you will!". Stunned silence.

This is just atrocious management.

A good manager would have practiced [over and over again] the interaction before he ever let you meet the client face to face.

For example, he would have stressed things like

RULE #1: We never promise a deadline to a client unless we first clear it with accounting.
REASON FOR RULE #1: Time is money, and if we haven't generated enough billable hours this month, then we're gonna need to generate more [not fewer] billable hours. Welcome to the real world, kiddo.

RULE #2: We never give away free code unless we first clear it with accounting.
REASON FOR RULE #2: Code is money, and if we haven't sold enough code this month, then we're gonna hafta sell more [not less] code. Welcome to the real world, kiddo.

And then he would have gone through practice conversations in which he pretended to be the client, and he coached you as to what to say and what not to say, and how to hem and haw your way out of making any firm commitment [until the "correct" answer could be cleared by accounting].

Your manager not practicing a client site visit like that with you beforehand, and then admonishing you afterwords, would be like a football coach not teaching his playbook to his players during practice [or never even showing them the playbook in the first place], and then yelling at them after the game because they were clueless on the field.