I have felt the same way, and always push back on one-off custom requests. My team has to support hundreds of internal teams, so doing one-off custom implementations is a problem.
While I can push back, I can’t always outright say no, unfortunately. Sometimes they go above my head, but I will try to find a way to do what they need, while keeping it in the single code base and making it flexible to account for the needs of other teams with a similar request.
Other people on my team seem to jump at trying to help and always make a one-off project, in the name of speed, to solve their problem. He is the hero of the day, but maintenance has become a nightmare, with a lot of code duplication and a single change needing to be replicated 10 different places. It’s an easy place to end up, but a hard one to get out of. Now that these agreements have been made and expectations set, we’re kind of stuck. I use every opportunity to try and cut ties or end support if it looks like something isn’t being used… but that also takes time and is a political tightrope walk. It’s much better to avoid it from the start.
> While I can push back, I can’t always outright say no, unfortunately.
That sounds rough! It's extremely hard to outright say no when you are not the decision maker.
> Sometimes they go above my head
I am all too familiar with it from my days working in corporate environment. It's frustrating.
> He is the hero of the day, but maintenance has become a nightmare
100% with you there! It's like taking a loan to pay back your loan. Eventually, it's going to catch up.
Kudos to you for putting up a fight and making things to work. It's easy to follow the norm but hard to cut against the grain. Cheers to the rebel in you!
While I can push back, I can’t always outright say no, unfortunately. Sometimes they go above my head, but I will try to find a way to do what they need, while keeping it in the single code base and making it flexible to account for the needs of other teams with a similar request.
Other people on my team seem to jump at trying to help and always make a one-off project, in the name of speed, to solve their problem. He is the hero of the day, but maintenance has become a nightmare, with a lot of code duplication and a single change needing to be replicated 10 different places. It’s an easy place to end up, but a hard one to get out of. Now that these agreements have been made and expectations set, we’re kind of stuck. I use every opportunity to try and cut ties or end support if it looks like something isn’t being used… but that also takes time and is a political tightrope walk. It’s much better to avoid it from the start.
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