Agile Web Operations

You've heard it before, right? The standard answer given by so many developers when faced with a broken feature on the test server: “…but it runs on my box…”. Oh yeah, one of my favorites. You're supposed to get this released and they can only come up with this lame excuse.

Why does every developer on the planet answer in this same way? It's probably safe to assume that, indeed, it does run on their box. So what's the real problem here? The developer wants to see his feature running live in production just as much as you and the product owner. Now you tell him that his code doesn't even run. Even if you didn't intend to blame him, he'll always interpret it that way. Because his brainchild does not perform, he takes it personally. He really put a lot of effort into designing and coding. He created clean, tested code, and made sure that his feature really delivers what the users need. After weeks of effort, you come back to him and say that it doesn't work. Such motivation killers don't exactly create a healthy work environment, much less foster professional respect.