I wanted to talk a little bit about ownership and the frustrations I have with developers who don't own up their work. We all do it, just in varying degrees.
Have you ever noticed that some developers never own up to there work? A developer added some logic that made if confusing for you to follow, but they won't own up to their work. Trying to get anything out of them is like talking to a wall. I wonder what they're afraid of. I've put up with this for too long and need to talk about it.
Some developers feel it's "ok" to NOT take ownership or responsibility of their work. I think they are afraid of confrontation. If I want to know who did something, I am not looking to target someone and humiliate them. I am trying to solve an issue with which I am having trouble following their trail. I feel that the developer thinks that if they speak up that they will have to fix something or possibly "do more work". Yes, there are some immature developer that do make you fix it and will call you out in front to make themselves feel smarter, but I feel that most are just trying to solve an issue for which they need an assist with.
These "cowering" developers create more frustration, waste time and resources, and push the work off on other developers. I am sick of watching irresponsible developers go home to their friends and family while other developers clean up the messes. I am sure there is some angry significant others out there whom have a few words to say. I am sick of having long arguments in the same area of the developer who wrote the piece but they are just sitting there and listening and don't have the courage to stand up and assist.
Yes I know there are cases where we had to throw some not so good code in because of some crazy business logic, but it doesn't mean you are stuck with that piece forever. Others will come behind, follow your trail, and try to tweak/fix your piece. They may need help or point them in the right direction. If you choose to "cower" in the corner, it will be noticed and remembered. Swallow some pride and own up to the code.
In my opinion it is less often a case of someone being embarrassed or afraid of confrontation as it is what you mentioned as the possibility they may have to do more work. I think it comes down to taking responsibility for what you have done and unfortunately there are a lot of professionals who are not willing to do this to the level that they should. It is probably not limited to our industry either, I think these types of people exists in any sort of industry.
ReplyDeleteThe sad part is that those that do take pick up the slack in these situations end up frustrated and may reach a breaking point where not only will they not pick up the pieces of those around them, they may even start letting their own work suffer. This attitude can spread like a disease and be detrimental to productivity.