Software Development "worst practice"

[yesthattom]

Jim actually prototyped and demonstrated a software package that could automate and accomplish the entire deployment process in a fraction of the time and eliminate the possibility of human error. Naturally, he was shot down by one of the lead developers; actually, the very same lead who designed the whole branching and Merge Day process in the first place. His reason: “I made a makefile once in college; they’re more trouble than they’re worth.”

The Daily WTF, 2006-11-01

Why do I keep hearing that same story over and over. Why do I keep meeting people that “saved the company millions” by automating the build process so that is repeatable and fast, not a week-long process that stalls the entire company... but only did so after being told not to do it, or that it wasn’t worth it. kimuchi tells a great story like that. Others have too.

In both of my books I found excuses to mention “make” and “makefiles”. Sure, there are a million similar things out there. It doesn’t matter what you use, just as long as you aren’t manually typing command after error-prone command to get your software built.

WTF!