A junior or mid-level dev may often think that coding is progress and having more and more complex or craftsman-like solutions is the goal, because they think development is all about coding.
In reality, having less to maintain while still providing what’s needed is what’s best. This is the way.
Sometimes solutions aren’t obvious. You’re right that a decision should have been made, but maybe the decision was to wait and see.
Maybe your TL is too indecisive and not timely enough, or maybe they aren’t the problem.
If it continues and you think that it’s an ongoing problem that isn’t benefiting your organization, talk about it with the TL directly. Listen to them.
Finally, if that doesn’t work, talk to their supervisor. Tell them a lot of dev time is being wasted. But only after you do the rest and think through it.
Remember what Douglas Adams said: “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” If it’s contractual, it may be important, though, in which case you should bring it up with the TL.
Finally, could this have been designed better and more comprehensively up front? Or does your team not do that well?
thanks! appreciate the response. I do think they probably have valid concerns, and I absolutely trust them.
The frustrating part for me is why wait till the last possible minute? why avoid talking about this until it's too late? I would have loved to have the chance to design it better upfront, or at least have a conversation about it.
It's possible they're overwhelmed with work, it's also possible that I'm making the deadline a bigger deal than it should be.
Your response was super helpful to think about this, thank you.
There are times when things truly change last minute, or new intel pops up. State that the new changes will require pushing the deadline, and if curious ask if they can tell more about how the changed requirements came about so that you have all the right context for the next iteration.
You should probably have a sit down with TL and try to understand their perspective. And bring up questions you have while *not* sounding uninterested in new API spec.
Unless TL been recently promoted, they would know what they have to do to get better results, your deadlines might be extended if they're able to convince their superiors about the benefits of the new approach or drawbacks (enough) of the current one.
As previously stated TL has had a different role + goals than a dev, if you're still in limbo about the situation, you can still put the current work you did in your review cycle.
