Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ask Slashdot: How To Handle a Colleague's Sloppy Work?

Posted by Soulskill on from the eat-his-lunch dept.

An anonymous reader writes "I'm working on a new product with one of the more senior guys at our company. To be blunt: his work is sloppy. It works and gets the job done, but it's far from elegant and there are numerous little (some might say trivial) mistakes everywhere. Diagrams that should be spread over five or six pages are crammed onto one, naming is totally inconsistent, arrows point the wrong way (without affecting functionality) and so forth. Much of this is because he is so busy and just wants to get everything out the door. What is the best way to handle this? I spent a lot of time refactoring some of it, but as soon as he makes any changes it needs doing again, and I have my own work to be getting on with. I submit bug reports and feature requests, but they are ignored. I don't want to create bad feelings, as I have to work with him. Am I obsessing over small stuff, or is this kind of internal quality worth worrying about?"

7 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. Whining. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Passive-aggressive complaints in a public forum looks like a good choice.

  2. use the thedailywtf to your advantage by Mahldcat · · Score: 3, Funny

    find some of the more fun things from his code, and submit submit submit....

  3. You two should talk by LoRdTAW · · Score: 5, Funny

    Might you be complaining about this gentleman? http://ask.slashdot.org/story/13/01/03/2255204/ask-slashdot-how-to-react-to-coworker-who-says-my-code-is-bad

  4. Re:Get over it. by Tr3vin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Uh-oh. It looks like he also reads slashdot!

  5. Re:Get over it. by jeffmeden · · Score: 5, Funny

    The only way you should let someone continue developing an unmaintainable mess is when there is absolutely no chance it will ever need to be fixed or added to by you.

    FTFY

  6. FTFY: Rewritten the question correctly... by maroberts · · Score: 5, Funny
    I'm working on a new product with one of the more junior guys at our company. To be blunt: his work is sloppy. Because he obsesses over details, whilst his work is elegant and has few mistakes, he never completes any work. It never gets to the stage where It works and gets the job done, but there are numerous incomplete (some might say major) sections everywhere.

    Diagrams that could fit in one page are spread over five or six pages, he's anal over naming convention and minor details like whether arrows point the right way (whether it affects functionality or not) and so forth. He spends lots of time refactoring code instead of making progress and never gets anything out of the door, costing us money. What is the best way to handle this? Whenever I make necessary improvements he goes over my changes with a fine toothcomb, instead of getting on with his own work he spent a lot of time refactoring some of mine. The annoying little tyke then submits bug reports and feature requests, but which my fellow senior peole read with condescending amusement. I don't want to create bad feelings, as I have to work with him. Is he obsessing over small stuff, and should he see the Bigger Picture"

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

  7. Somewhere out there ... by BaronAaron · · Score: 3, Funny

    There is a senior developer submitting a Ask Slashdot article about what to do with a know-it-all junior developer wasting time "refactoring" all of his code.