Am I In A Death March Project?

Question

The facts:

• The other programmer is constantly slipping deadlines with no status updates, at the moment he is slipping the single biggest feature on the website (which he asked to work on) by 3-4 weeks from his initial estimate.
• The people for whom the software is being written fear taking action against the other programmer because they claim he has tremendous "business value" and "understands social networks", thus I think devaluing me and my opinions/knowledge.
• The code quality is so poor I find much of the framework a mystery and the source code unreadable - Thus when something goes horribly wrong I have to rely on the other programmer (the frameworks creator) to fix it, slowing me down.
• The designer on the project is constantly messing little things up - e.g. phantom buttons whose proclaimed functionality leaves no clues to its actual implementation. Sometimes the design flaws are found after the page design has already been converted to HTML, thus causing them to have to pay to get the page "resliced".
• I've tried proposing ideas like a Scrum meeting daily, or even once a week, but the "CEO" thinks these are too "airy fairy" to really help us out.
• I proposed several quality improvement ideas to the other programmer (unit testing new features, spacing code so it's not a blob, commenting functions so I know how they work, documenting his framework a bit, even separating HTML from PHP) but he never seems to want to get on board.

I'm not all doom and gloom I promise, but I must know am I on a death march and if so should I gracefully walk away? Is there any hope of turning this ship around? The "CEO" thinks that the solution is to have me sit down and type out a list of all the functionality for their website as a sort of "Bible", anyone have a better idea?

Answer 1

Sounds bad to me. Get out if you can find a better project.
2c

Answer 2

I don't know if you're on a death march, but it sure sounds like you're caught in the grip of a dysfunctional organization. How does your team score on the Joel Test?

Answer 3

It sounds like you've tried to turn things around and no one there is listening. If you can find at least 1 other person (hopefully someone with influence) who will listen to you I'd say you have a small chance. Otherwise it looks like you're on a death march.

Documenting all the functionality is definitely a good idea, but seems a bit too late. That should have happened before you started the project.

Is this a recurring problem in your company? If so I'd leave, it seems like the entire organization is dysfunctional. It sounds like you have good development practices could get a job somewhere else easily.

Answer 4

Thanks for the Joel Test link, we score exactly 1, we wisely chose to use subversion. Actually that article is amazingly interesting and enlightening, thanks. I'm thinking I will probably start searching around for a job elsewhere.

Answer 5

As Martin Fowler said, "You can Change Your Organization or Change Your Organization." Either make the place where you are now a better place to work or find someplace better to work. It sounds like your current organization is very dysfunctional and resistant to change, so looking for that new job may be the best option.

Answer 6

I agree with @kokos. You are in a very difficult position because of the other programmer. As long as he is around you won't be able to provide much value.

Answer 7

The code quality is so poor I find much of the framework a mystery and the source code unreadable - Thus when something goes horribly wrong I have to rely on the other programmer (the frameworks creator) to fix it, slowing me down.

Take initiative in improving the quality, bit by bit. If he rejects your changes, get out and find a better project ASAP. If he learns to appreciate them, the project may have a chance left yet.

Answer 8

This looks interesting - a diary written by someone facing exactly the same choice;

Change Your Organization: A Diary