

Troublesome manager.. what would you do? - PStamatiou

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. <p>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.<p>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.<p>Going back to my code is an equally large task as he had been adding other pages, content and "design features".<p>What would you do? I'm sure I am not the only one that has had this problem.
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run4yourlives
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
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.

~~~
run4yourlives
>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.

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paul_reiners
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.

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mynameishere
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.

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jey
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.

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wozer
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.

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nickb
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?!

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aswanson
Quit and do a startup.

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menloparkbum
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.

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omouse
"Deadline is in about a week."

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

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gcheong
Use version control?

