As a developer, you will eventually come across a customer or user that will try to use you as a scapegoat. It is unfortunate that there are people like this but it is part of the job and is many times the reason we are forced to play the CYA game. You know the type. The code you wrote 7 years ago that has worked exactly as specified, went through User Acceptance Testing, and was QA'd is now suddenly "broken" because one new manager does not like the way it behaves.
You get the email/phone call that says there is a bug in your code and when can you have it fixed? This my friends is not the way to win friends and influence people. A much better approach would be to say "We have re-evaluated our business rules for the xyz application and we would like you to help us change the code to adhere to the new rules". For some reason there are still people out there that don't realize that you can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.
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Curt,
ReplyDeleteWhat you have there is probably a dirty cheap client, that wants to frame everything as a "bug" so he doesn't have to pay for it. Or at least thinks he doesn't have to pay for it.
You have to go back to warranty. I don't think there is any s/w out there with a warranty beyond 12 months. So even if it is a bug, then it's a case of "tough-titties", because you gotta report it within the warranty period.
I have had some difficult people who have tried this to, and I use the "lawn mower" metaphor.
If I bought a lawn mower 8 years ago, and it broke down today, can I go back to the store and ask for them to fix it for free ?
Usually the client is oblivious to this concept and this results in the situation you have described. Otherwise, if you got a nasty client, you should up your quotes/estimates to accommodate the extra work to maintain an audit trail, before they rail road you into doing stuff for free, or if you can afford, just quote so high, that it says, "you are dangerous to business with, go away!"
Funny that you say that. We do in fact have a "difficult customer surcharge" that we use when estimating to certain customers. We have to do this or we will just continue to get burned.
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