StackOverflow2013

Note that there are some explanatory texts on larger screens.

plurals

PO
text
Body
copied!<p>I built a tool to validate schema changes to the target DB at work. prior to my tool we did it all by hand with fugly scripts that DBA's at client sites had to run. my tool started tracking the structure of the database to know if certain things would work out. I got frustrated with having to hand check all this stuff or suffer from the errors inevtiable in doing things by hand so I built my validator and here is its story...</p> <p><strong>Was it successful?</strong> </p> <p>Yes</p> <p><strong>Were you found out?</strong> </p> <p>yes. Part of the aspect of a skunk works project is that it has to surface eventually.</p> <p><strong>Were you punished or rewarded?</strong> </p> <p>Punished initially - why not work on mainstream activities. But rewarded once the benefit was made evident and product errors were reduced. Then it was heralded- everyone loves a winner.</p> <p><strong>How did you fund it?</strong> </p> <p>For the love of coding it up and making my life easier - so no direct funds needed. Unless was part of managements plan to have a secret project i cannot see how this would be otherwise.</p> <p><strong>How did you staff it?</strong> </p> <p>I coded alone as a lone developer on a grassy knoll with my laptop.</p> <p><strong>How long did it take to finish, compared to above-ground projects?</strong> </p> <p>Not comparable. my skunksworks effort was maybe a year of tinkering. If we had set out to do it directly i cant imagine it would have taken less than 2 months directly but I do not know since thats not how it morphed. Downtime to think and plan may have made it faster in the end compared direct planning upfront.</p> <p><strong>What was the cost, compared to above-ground projects?</strong> </p> <p>Undetermined - As I mentioned, given that I had down time to think and plan it was able to evovle in the direction I wanted without schedule/result pressures. In a shorter or more resource involved project we probably would have made some mistakes in rushin to get to some M1, M2 etc. Besides if it didnt work out, its would have been as if it had never happened as I could have folded up the tents and gone quietly into the night.</p> <p><strong>Was it formally adopted?</strong> </p> <p>My project is a key part of the product build at my work so I would say its entrenched.</p>

Querying!

Guidance

An individual column

Larger individual text columns get their own page to allow for proper reading.

SQuiL has stopped working due to an internal error.

If you are curious you may find further information in the browser console, which is accessible through the devtools (F12).

Reload