From the life of an IT guy
The Story of an IT Guy: The Great Cleanup
Or how I spent a whole day cleaning up something no one can see, and was proud of it.
Let’s clean up ↓
Good software is not created just by writing code. First, someone has to think things through properly. And sometimes clean up too. 😁
01 / 07
Eleven o’clock. A great time to start the day.
I got up at eleven. After working until five in the morning, it was less getting up and more a slow system restart.
The processor was overheating, memory was fragmented and the operating system had not booted yet. Then one thought arrived, and it works better than coffee: THE CAR!
02 / 07
Parking in Bratislava. An alarm clock for advanced users.
Caffeine arrives slowly. The threat of an eighty-euro fine arrives immediately. In three seconds I was ready for an Olympic sprint.
When the car was where it should be, relief came. Only then did the coffee. That is what modern morning wellness looks like in Bratislava.
03 / 07
The four rascals were already waiting.
After coffee, the news and checking on the world, the Consultant, Optimizer, Programmer and Tester were waiting for me. I had my second coffee. They were already in their second productive hour.
I told them: Lads, today we are not inventing more miracles. Today we are cleaning up!
I had my second coffee. They had already had their second productive hour.
04 / 07
Today we clean up. Properly!
A software project is like a workshop after a hard day’s work. Everything works, but no one quite knows why a cable is wrapped around the lamp.
You do not remove things blindly. Even an inconspicuous file may be holding half the system together, just like the screw you find only after assembling the wardrobe.
It is not a mess. It is historical architecture.
05 / 07
Everything needs a name. Even the thing that does nothing.
Someone must be responsible for everything. And that person must have a name. A process without a name is like a public-service window without a clerk: you stand there, the paper circulates and the result is on holiday.
A clear name, task, boundaries, inputs and outputs are often harder to prepare than the code itself. And that is precisely why they matter.
Someone is responsible for everything. Sometimes they just do not know it yet.
06 / 07
Just do it somehow. The most expensive sentence in the world.
Programmers usually are not the problem. The problem is the sentence: Just do it somehow. It is like ordering a house without its size, rooms or budget, then asking for a rooftop pool, underground garage and sea view at handover. Even though you live in Senec.
Then agile programming arrived. Not the methodology; that is fine. Just its absurd translation: let’s start now and think as we go. We are already in our third sprint. We still do not know where we are going.
Of course we can. After all, we bill by the hour. 😁
07 / 07
I did not create anything new all day. And it was great.
No button, animation or new page was added. What was added was cleaner architecture, named processes, fewer unnecessary things and a better foundation for further development.
The AI workers do tasks. I think, prepare assignments, decide and check the results. The tools are still the same. You can finally find them all.
No circus was added today. Only chaos disappeared.
Order + responsibility + ideas
Have an idea? First, let’s think it through well together.
A good assignment, clear architecture and honest checking are the foundation on which something can be built.
Let’s talk →↑ Back to the start of the story