Square pegs

So I know that linkedin was supposed to be my topic, but it will have to wait. And trust me, it will be better because of it. Lots has changed since I last played with it, so I need to learn some more before I pretend to be some sort of expert.


So there is a saying, "You're so dumb that I bet you try to shove a square peg into a round hole" Well what if all you have is the square peg? Or worse yet, you are given a square peg and told to just make it work? Do you laugh and tell the person to get you a different peg? Do you try and force the peg into a hole that clearly it doesn't belong? Or do you then take the peg and start shaving the corners to make it work for your needs?

This is a problem that I recently ran into. I was building a square peg. In my head I knew the client needed a square peg, so I built the peg to specifications that were given to me. When I handed them the peg, they looked at me dumbfounded. But I have a round hole they point out. Well then why didn't you tell me months ago?

This is a common problem when trying to build an application that is supposed to be multi-tennant. You end up trying to build a one size fits all peg. It will never work. So instead you make sacrifices to each person's needs and hope that what you give them will fit.

So in my case I was building a SSRS report. I was working on getting it to render a PDF correctly. Spent a few days getting the SQL to work correctly, then a few days getting the PDF to look right. Hand it off, and then was asked how do I get a CSV of this data... If you wanted a CSV, why didn't you tell me when I first asked what you needed?

 This leads us to the next topic, assumptions. They assumed that I would give them a CSV. I assumed that this report was for some one to see and not need to manipulate. Had we talked about all of the things they needed, then I would have gotten them something much sooner that was what they needed. But now, we both are stuck with this odd peg that just doesn't fit in the hole.

So the lesson to take away from this, talk things out before hand. If you take an extra hour or two in the beginning  you can save days or even weeks in the end.