Let me tell you a story today.
Beckham, a web developer was tasked with redoing his company’s customer information portal. Using this website, customers can login to check their orders and commission points.
The old system was a legacy ASP (no, not the snake. It’s Microsoft’s version of PHP) system that looked like it came out of a college project or patched together with text book examples. The source code was poorly documented, all the spelling was wrong and there was inefficient code every where.
Beckham was actually assigned the task of improving the user interface with features such as drop down menus and new reporting features, but he took the initiative to do a major code revamp (mostly because he’s a bit of a coding standardization freak).
He spent countless hours and late nights working within the ASP and JavaScript limitations to come up with a system that is a hundred times (no, a million times) better than the previous one.
Beckham observed various security holes in the system and implemented an encrypted cookie verification system. To prevent brute force hacking attempts he opened the application in a popup browser window so that Javascript could close the window at will. He added counters for SQL injection.
The system rolled out, and complains started coming in about users not knowing how to allow popup windows to open and enable cookies on their browsers.
With each complain, Beckham’s colleagues pressured him to revert to the ‘old way’.
Beckham’s blood pressure boiled with each new stupid complaint he heard. He was being pressured and made to look bad by a few users who did not bother to figure out how to open popup windows.
Beckham thought at the back of his mind how ironic that these n00bs would find every way to change browser settings to surf porn sites, but won’t even try for a business site.
In the end, he spent two days and nights modifying the entire system to revert to a non popup design and minimizing the use of cookies. Mind you, this came with a lot of displeasure from Victoria.
The best quote was from one of his colleagues, “Let me check with my expert friend how to do this”.
Beckham nearly tackled his colleague from behind for such a blatant dismissal of his coding talent. “Expert friend? Do you think I just came out of programmer school?”
Last month, the company management reported that the website had been hacked. A major critical red alert was called in the IT department, with all the bosses coming to breathe down Beckham’s neck. You would imagine that the company safe had been broken into or something.
“Shut down the Internet,” they said in a knee jerk reaction. Like Beckham had the power. Apparently the website says “Hacked by Godzilla”.
Beckham calmly informed his boss that it was the user computer infected with the Godzilla virus (it says Hacked by Godzilla on the browser title bar).
A team of security “experts” was hired the next day to do an audit of the entire company infrastructure.
Various recommendations were proposed (by the way no major loopholes were found), among them using https security with SSL authentication.
Beckham wanted to scream “If the bunch of blinking n00b users can’t even figure out how to enable cookies and allow popups, what do you think will happen when we FORCE THEM TO INSTALL A CERTIFICATE?!”
Last night Beckham was so frustrated that he got in a quarrel with Victoria. He regrets that he hurt her feelings. He got so stressed he couldn’t even sleep properly.
Part of him feels like giving up and just restoring the old system. At least everyone will be happy. After all, they are all so 1997. If it comes to that, Beckham will also think of a transfer to another team who will appreciate his talent.
But Beckham remembers that all sorts of web users are out there, and they are equally frustrated too when they can’t use the system.
Beckham is resigned to the fate that things may never change, and people may never want to improve. Perhaps it was a mistake staying with ASP. Perhaps he should have moved to an AJAX design.
Perhaps, Beckham has an over inflated view of his own talents. Maybe he just isn’t that good after all.
And Adino says… The End. That was an interesting story wasn’t it? I wouldn’t want to be in Beckham’s shoes.
Nope, not at all.
Dooce Disclaimer: Any similiarities to persons real or otherwise are accidental.
November 6, 2007 at 19:38
I kind of felt pity for Beckham. I find it surprising that people are just glued to conventional things, especially when IT is growing at an exponential rate (for now, at least) according to Moore’s Law. When computer things (especially software) come and go, I think it’s better to stick with the new one when you can afford it. As for those users who don’t know their browsers top to bottom, computer-illiterate people shouldn’t work in IT posts - it’s irrational. I’m a leftist, so that’s how I feel in my opinions.
Adino: Yeah, Beckham would feel very frustrated with that.
November 7, 2007 at 09:23
I pity Beckham.
But world is made up of all kind of people.
Trust me, I face (the) worst of them.
Adino: Glad you could see yourself in his situation
November 7, 2007 at 11:00
People won’t change as they feel good in their comfort zone.. they want easy job rather than improve to be more difficult job.. Reality of the world.. Pity him..
Adino: Yeah, sometimes people just want the easy way out. They prefer to do things the old, easy way. But once something happens, like their account being hacked or something… then they look for others to blame.
November 7, 2007 at 12:48
Didn’t Beckham start the project with a user requirement phase? Would Beckham like to apply for a job in my company? He sounds potentially qualified
Adino: User requirements are extremely vague and open to interpretation. Beckham told me that he doesn’t want to play for another team just yet. A baby is on the way and he wants some stability in his life for this season.
November 16, 2007 at 08:19
I’ve been in Beckham’s shoes myself. It’s a very tough spot. If Beckham and I were sitting across each other sharing a beverage. I’d tell him a few things. “Look Becks, there’s no doubt you tried to do the right thing (fix the app) in the right way (securely), but you blew it on the political side. If you’re going to change UI on the users, they have to be prepped for it. You needed an ally in the user’s camp that could see the good in your changes and sell it to them. I know, I know, you’re not a politician, you’re a coder and a damn good one, but that alone won’t get your changes accepted. Learn from this, because I’ll guarantee you’ll see it again. Two more things, Ignore the hyenas (‘I’ll ask my expert friend about this’), ‘cos they can’t see what you do. Do something brilliant for Victoria, because on a really bad day, she will make all the difference. Now I’m thirsty from talking so much, so buy me another!” Cheers. DT
Adino: Thanks for the advice. You’re right about blowing it from the political side. Beckham assumed that most users would be tech-savvy but it is the complete opposite.
Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting DT. Hope you stick around