For the last few weeks, I've been working on one application specifically - one that I basically got to build from scratch. It's pretty fun seeing something you created from nothing but when it gets to the end, I start to procrastinate all the little things that still need to be done.
Examples? Well, I needed to add validation to my form (e.g. so you can't enter IMAWESOME as a phone number). I spent forever coming up with other things to work on so I didn't have to do this.
I needed to make the web app look good in both IE and Firefox. Whoops, there's something else to work on! I don't have time to deal with why that red X is coming up in IE. It's IE's fault anyway. Stop using it, move onto Chrome or Firefox.
Apparently, I can't have that kind of logic. Fine, fine. I can accept that since I am being paid to do this.
I finally got around to finishing all these details. I make a to-do list for every project and break it down into steps so I don't forget about anything and I'm finally down to two tasks:
1) Implement these buttons that are more complicated than I like
2) Find some way to log everything a user does
#2 is pretty important. Even though this is an in house application, it's inevitable that I'll get an email after it goes live saying something along the lines of, "I didn't change this but now store XYZ says it is located in Nowhere, Alaska! It's supposed to be in Los Angeles! What happened?"
If I don't have any logs that show what the user has been doing, my answer would be a blank stare. If I have logs, I can pull them up and point exactly to the time and place where the user decided the store would be better off in Alaska, rather than LA. And I can show them the system did not just crap out on them like they thought, but rather, it was user error.
Damn, do I sound mean? Imagine I'm saying all this with a happy smile on my face. Does that make it better?
I'll work on it.
Time to stop procrastinating. Maybe.
Yours,
