Code comment written less than a month ago:

/**
 * Added 10/7/2009 by specific request of sjohnson. Of course there's no HD
 * ticket or other documentation for the request because everyone knows
 * normal rules don't apply to the field staff.
 */

Code comment written today:

/**
 * Removed 11/5/2009 by specific request of sjohnson. Of course there's no HD ticket
 * or other documentation for the request because everyone knows normal rules don't apply
 * to the field staff. sjohnson swears this is a showstopper and must be removed because
 * now that he actually has to work in Plus on a daily basis he understands how
 * ridiculously foolish it is to clear out the time entry fields after every entry is
 * added to the table.
 */

Mere days before a version of Plus was to be released, the manager in question demanded that the functionality be changed as it was “not the way the staff work”. He was made aware of the reason the product functioned the way it did and warned of the problems that would occur should his demand be met, but these logical beseechings fell upon deaf ears. He was given an opportunity (two full weeks) to test this change and he signed off on the final product. Almost exactly a month later, the manager had to take on the role of a field technician. As part of that, he had to use Plus, and blamed me for “making changes without [his] knowledge”.

This manager demanded that this and a second change be immediately coded and pushed into production as an “emergency” release…without any testing. He was warned of the expected problems of the second change and how testing helps ensure quality, but again he exhibited Deaf Man’s Vendetta. We’ll see how that turns out.

Update: A week later (11/13/2009) the same manager went into another panic and demanded the functionality be reverted again, emailing “can you please verify and correct this issue immediately? This is the same issue we had in October!”