(^46) 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
Clever Code Is Hard to Maintain.
Clever Code Is Hard to Maintain.
David Wood
Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S.
DEvEloPERS ARE oFTEn ASKED To CREATE MIRAClES. They must find
clever ways to make today’s project code work with yesterday’s antiquated
legacy software containing multiple patches. And through skill and ingenuity,
they may create numerous lines of clever code that finally get the job done. But
clever code may only create future maintenance problems due to the code’s
length and complexity. There may be a better way.
If you are a project manager new to software development, don’t be afraid to
let developers explore new languages and development tools. Allow them this
freedom, because this is how they discover innovative ways to improve their
coding practices and results. They may be able to design a software solution to
your legacy interface problem that is faster and has fewer lines of code to test
and maintain. This is certainly an advantage to your project.
There are innovative new programming languages that can perform the same
functions as your current ones with substantially fewer lines of code. This is
valuable in that a simpler code structure is easier to test, can be self-defining,
is smaller to store, and is easier to maintain.
Obviously, there are some concerns about adding new languages and platforms
within your organization. Will this new code truly solve the problem for the cur-
rent software or upgrade under development? Will it interface long-term with the
existing software used in your legacy databases, user interfaces within the organi-
zation, and third-party software in which the company has already invested?