We are getting our big releases ready for the next year. There are a total of six applications. Each have their own installs. One application release got tripped up because its official number was revoked, and a new number reassigned to it.One would think you could do a new build with the new official number, update some docs, and be on your way. No such luck here. The real crime is that the release went through peer review without catching any major problems.
Lucky for us, we have a diligent test team. They called me over many times today to point out the problems. I told them to just annotate all the issues. I dove into the situation when the release was returned to application development.
The major issue was that the build had failed. The build scripts just packaged up the old components. Everybody thought the build worked. We can fix this by designing and implementing better error checking in the build. But this was just the beginning of the problems with this release.
I do not know how to fix the true source for most of these problems. Perhaps we just need better people on the job. But you would think that you could put in a process that allows even mediocre employees to produce adequate software. Once again the test team saved the day by catching the problems before we shipped the junk out the door.
