Got assigned to a major upgrade project for two of our systems that are inextricably linked. Was very excited, because here we have a great chance to implement an awesome new system.

The budget and timeline were decided before any technical resources were asked about the problem. That’s standard here of course.

So months later we finally have the consultants in to help us architect the move to the new system. What we’re learning is that

1. Our existing system is in extremely bad shape due to bad design decisions.
2. We have an unusual setup that will be difficult to replicate, but possible!
3. So many of the hacked in bits and pieces we use were needlessly complicated and can be redone at least somewhat more elegantly, improving the reliability, performance, and user experience.

All of this is great! I’ve learned a lot from our consultants. Problem is that we don’t get to implement most of their recommendations, due to the time constraint and the budget constraint that were decided upon before anyone who had any idea of what they were doing got involved. Our mandate is to slap the existing garbage onto this new system and hope it works.

I’m so goddamned sick of the way projects get handled here.