Should you go against your Client? (Was: [thelist] Message Archive - MySQL)

Aredridel aredridel at nbtsc.org
Wed Jul 30 12:54:56 CDT 2003


> Um, shouldn't you leave this? You Client has expressly said this, and 
> you seem to be proposing to go behind his back against him.
> 
> Maybe he has his reasons for this; for example the database could be 
> put on a host where he pays for expensive storage, or maybe due to the 
> applications intended use he wants to encourage users to use it for 
> short term things only, and not as a message archive?
> 
> I would have thought the proper course of action is to sit down with 
> him and explain to him why you think its a bad idea and to try to 
> change his mind, but if he remains resolute then you bow to his will.
> 
> What is other peoples experience in matters like this?

My experience is that clients usually don't know what they want.

Also, deleting data if it's avoidable is bad.  That's a fundamental
tenet of database design.  It gives you the raw material for an audit
trail, for undoing actions, for restoring data -- even partial data --
in the event of a failure.

If there's a reason to delete things, it had better be good.

As far as deleting "old" things to keep things organized, that's only
useful if there's no filter in whatever system you're using.  Something
that is invisible unless you hunt after it is as good as deleted unless
it interferes with the system in some way, or is an organizational
nightmare.  Better to fix your organization than delete it, though.

I find that clients usually thank me when I tell them what they want.  I
also implement simple features that they veto, often, when my intuition
says they'll change their mind.  It's saved a lot of work in some
places, where I already stored the data the feature would need, so when
they wanted it, they already had the month of data, instead of having to
wait a month for sufficient data to collet, it was already there.  They
thanked me for that.  Agile software development is all about things
like that ;-)

Ari

> 
> James.


More information about the thelist mailing list