Timeline for How to handle requests to change code written by my superior
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 2021 at 3:24 | comment | added | neubert | @SJuan76 - "Saying the name of the programmer seems pointless at best and defensive at worst.". It is giving contextually relevant facts so that the code reviewer can give an opinion based on all the facts at hand | |
| Apr 23, 2021 at 3:19 | comment | added | neubert | @MatthewRead - "Leaving such a comment only proves you acted irresponsibly and intentionally so, it will not protect you". Well gee why bother asking colleagues for anything when you can ask complete strangers on the internet. God forbid a colleague might have better insight into company culture than a bunch of strangers on the internet. Next time I have an issue instead of bringing it up with my boss I'll just as the people on workplace! Lord knows they know better than people who are right there 🙄 | |
| Apr 23, 2021 at 3:17 | comment | added | neubert | @MatthewRead - "It's new code going through code review, so the onus is ONLY on OP". You can't know that. You can't know how the OP's company is going to assign blame if shit hits the fan. ""Someone else wrote it" is not one of those exceptions". I'm not saying it is. My proposed response was to ask the code review. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but neither you or I have any way of knowing that and it is complete hubris to assume otherwise | |
| Apr 23, 2021 at 0:00 | comment | added | Kyslik | Get the original and make it as "first commit"; change author to your superior but leave yourself as committer then slap all your changes on top of that - stackoverflow.com/a/18754896/1564365 cheers. | |
| Apr 22, 2021 at 22:47 | comment | added | Matthew Read | It's new code going through code review, so the onus is ONLY on OP (as the one putting this forward for review) to ensure it is correct and meets standards. There is no acceptable cop-out for it not, other than something like timelines demanding it and everyone is on-board and willing to accept the risk. "Someone else wrote it" is not one of those exceptions. "I don't understand it and might break it" is not one of those exceptions. Leaving such a comment only proves you acted irresponsibly and intentionally so, it will not protect you. | |
| Apr 22, 2021 at 22:26 | comment | added | SJuan76 | @neubert appeals to authority were ok for Middle Age scholastic discussions, but not for code reviews. Managers are not necessarily good programmers. Good programmers today were not necessarily good programmers ten years ago. The code could be good but the standards have changed. And even good programmers sometimes write bad code. Would you keep buggy code only because who wrote it? Saying the name of the programmer seems pointless at best and defensive at worst. | |
| Apr 22, 2021 at 11:50 | comment | added | neubert | @BernhardBarker - the word "blame" is only applicable when you think the someone did something wrong, which the OP wasn't suggesting. In this case, naming the original author is more of an "appeal to authority" with the subtext being "maybe you don't recognize me as being an authority on this subject but the original author of the code is". It also helps point the code reviewer in the right direction for whatever follow up questions they might have. | |
| Apr 22, 2021 at 10:31 | history | edited | neubert | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 8 characters in body
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| Apr 22, 2021 at 8:59 | comment | added | Bernhard Barker | "I didn't write this" can be okay, but what purpose does "X wrote it" serve (other than to promote a blame culture that can be quite toxic and counter-productive)? | |
| Apr 22, 2021 at 8:45 | comment | added | Hobbamok | do NOT say "i was afraid of breaking stuff". Formulate it better "I haven't touched that bit yet because I focused on X", or "while not written in my style it works (if it does), so I prioritized areas that didnt" | |
| Apr 22, 2021 at 8:25 | comment | added | some_coder | I would leave the name of the original developer out of the message. Do not blame the original developer. Just write that you did not wrote the code and that you opted for not making any changes which could break stuff. . | |
| Apr 22, 2021 at 6:42 | comment | added | Adam Burke | As this answer says, I think it's best to be honest about the history of the project. It was a prototype that was handed over to you to productionize. There is now an engineering decision about the right way to bring it to production. Plan together with the reviewer and other owners of the code on what needs to change when. You shouldn't be afraid of code in a project, either, and the testing techniques in other answers are excellent ways to deal with that. | |
| Apr 21, 2021 at 14:09 | history | answered | neubert | CC BY-SA 4.0 |