He sent back one of my issues again. It's been for the fourth time in 2 days. I've been sweating blood in this project. The others already threw in the towel, but I hold on, try-hard, outperform even. All for nothing. Probably the only thing he realizes that I am not precise enough.
However, I did my very best in working on this issue too. I studied the description thoroughly, but I could not reproduce the problem. Well, I should have thrown back the issue at this very moment, saying that there is not enough information, cannot reproduce, do whatever you prefer.
Instead, I, stupid Stakhanoviste, fixed another bug on the same page since I was there. But did he thank you for that? No, the issue got back the Needs work status like a streak of lightning. He even commented on Slack: "This can be pretty disturbing for you that there are so many discrepancies in the code, they should move together, why is it this way?"
I almost see how it happened. Between two meetings, he wants to test quickly the tasks marked for review. He checks the first one: still not good. He changes its status back to needs work. He checks the second one: still not good, back to needs work. He is getting angry, and inwardly he might curse. Eventually, he takes a big breath, tries to apply what we learned during the training about Nonviolent Communication: connect with empathy, try to understand the other party's viewpoint. I read again what he wrote. Again and again. And even if I still think he is mad at me, the NVC still works. So, if he is really curious about why it is this way, I will show him.
I throw myself at this task again. I will show him what it is like when I leave no stone unturned to solve this tiny issue with one story point.
I start by figuring out where I need to test my change. I make a list of the different appearances I have to check, and then I pick one randomly. Yes, I nailed it. This appearance is not in use anywhere. Yeah! All right, let's continue one by one.
I check the next appearance. For the first sight, it does not look good. I quickly go into it and realize it is not because of me. I look for the design. (Well, it is not that easy like it sounds, but after few minutes of confusion, I manage to select HOMEv34). It is true. The actual version does not match the design plan. I spend some time to fix it then I move to the next appearance. It is not good either, but this time in a different way. I try to research, and then I find the code snippet, which seems to be responsible for the issue. I stare at it for a while, trying to understand, then I decide to delete it. I will test everything thoroughly, so I believe I will find out if this move will spoil something somewhere.
I continue with the next appearance. It belongs to another design plan. Of course, I have to fix some differences.
Let's move on. At this point, I find three bugs in a second. Text formatting is wrong, also the picture size, and there is an extravagant item as well. Should I fix it or let the PO know about it? OK, let's fix it as it blocks me in my current assignment. I take the time trying to solve the puzzle, checking commit messages and issue descriptions from months ago. Slowly, the picture is getting clear, and well, it is quite a typical case: at that time, we did not think about the future customer request, and we did not prepare the code for that. I analyze possible solutions, try this and that. I test on mobile and find another bug. A tiny thing, but enough is enough. It is not connected to my issue, I take note, and we will open a separate ticket for that.
Then I run through the mobile design plans, check a three or four, and try to figure out the designer's intentions: which one is the general formatting and which one is for a special case. I check on mobile all the appearances so far, I make tiny amendments, but more or less they meet the requirements.
Then I find again a similar code snippet I previously deleted.
Now I have to figure out who and for what reason formatted this item in this way. I analyze the comments in the version manager to understand what the goal was and what will go wrong when I delete it. As I start to see the whole picture, I become suspicious: this has never worked properly before. I check in test environments, and indeed, if we check thoroughly, there is a displacement in both environments. So to sum up: the existing solution is not only wrong but is an obstruction in other places. However, my solution is not perfect, either.
At this point, I got stuck. I have to ask for advice.
In the meantime, it is already 6:30 PM. I started the work at 2:30. And again, it is a task with one story point. In the end, I modified seven files, and although I solved the issue and a few more small things too, there was still one thing which I messed up. So, the quintessence of the developer's life: you always struggle more than what you've planned. If not, then you don't know it yet that you will. If not you, then your colleague.
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