In theory, he is on the same level as me. In practice, he is above me (as de-facto team-leader). I am working in development/devops, with a partial overlap with his projects.

We just had a meeting with the company wanting to sell this crap software to us. He invited me to this meeting, even though he had enough information about my preferences to know that I will likely strongly dislike the idea.

I started to write a mail to our boss, where I just say the truth, as I see it. The problem is that after I've read my own mail, it became clear that at the average company it would endanger my job. Thus I deleted this mail, without sending it.

In general, the company has an above-average friendly atmosphere what I consider a big value, and I don't want to poison it. The opinion of the subordinates also has an above-average effect to the higher-level decisions, I also consider that a big value here. In exchange, our wages are a little bit below average.

The problem is that the team-leader will now probably utilize his "influence" over the developers to support the idea, and thus influence the decision of our common boss. In this "indirect" way, he will probably be able to inject the crap software into the development.

I don't have the same influence.

But I need to do something. But what?

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    Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Neo Mar 13 '19 at 18:44
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    What is this "crap software"? are we talking a library to meet a business need? IE: Aspose to process Word Documents? Or is it junk-ware that gets installed on the clients mahines? IE: "bonus offers" that come with Adobe Reader? Is it middle-ware that does stuff like Source Safe? Different approaches to different types of "crap software"... – WernerCD Mar 14 '19 at 13:52
  • @WernerCD While I am happy on your curiosity and I would be glad to share more details behind a flask of beer, in our current context, these are not needed infos to answer the question. – Gray Sheep Mar 14 '19 at 14:21
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    Shrug I think they are... They will determine the justification for the software and the arguments against said "softwares" both from a developer perspective and a business perspective. – WernerCD Mar 14 '19 at 14:25
  • @WernerCD Yes. This point is part of the majority of the already written answers we can read here. – Gray Sheep Mar 14 '19 at 14:26

12 Answers 12


But something I need to do. But what?

Provide your feedback in a "constructive way", and be done about it. Not your place to make decisions.

Mention something along the lines of

"It was good to get a chance to evaluate the product X. As I see it:

- Pros: 1, 2, 3

- Cons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ......

As it is evident from the analysis above, the list of cons overwhelms the list of pros, overall, I'd not be inclined to use this.

There might be better alternative which could have a reverse result of the given assessment, please let me know if you'd need me to work on that."

You were invited to the meeting (and the demo, I guess), and you have a fair idea of the ups and downs. You report them, solely based on the merits and demerits. Leave the decision making part to the people who are taking them.

At a later point of time if it comes back in the form that "even-after-new-tool-why-productivity-is-down" argument, well, you'll have your "proof".

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    Since OP has already highlighted that they had a bias before the meeting even started; this might help them establish in their own mind if the product really is as bad as they think it is. – UKMonkey Mar 13 '19 at 15:16
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    +1, but I wish I could upvote more - namely because this answer covers the two most important aspects: Always put forth your assessment in a constructive, non-disparaging way and keep a paper (err, electron. err, you get the idea) trail. – OnoSendai Mar 13 '19 at 16:01
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    Make sure you're comfortable with anyone in the company seeing anything you put in writing. It's very likely that the other team lead will see what you wrote, so write it in an impartial voice, presenting facts and not opinions. – David S. Mar 13 '19 at 20:51
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    Just copy the mail to the other lead yourself, in fact add everybody who was at that meeting. It will seem more impartial that way. – Stig Hemmer Mar 14 '19 at 8:17
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    Suggesting that the company should review competing products before making a decision is always a good move. Put a list of candidates in your memo to the boss. – Paul Johnson Mar 15 '19 at 11:37

If you believe that a coworker is operating in cronyistic manner and playing fast and loose with company funds, yes, that is something you should raise with your manager.

Saying the software is "crap" is not likely to get you much traction. You must quantify how it is substandard, and how the business will not get the appropriate value for money. Just as you are annoyed that your teamleader is not objective, you must be objective yourself.

For example, you can contrast this "crap" software with competitor offerings. You could also estimate the value to the code base in saved man-hours.

It's possible you were invited along to provide the illusion of objectivity. If your "teamleader" picked you because he knew you may be "cautious" to bring up this with your manager, and thus he gets implicit validation from your presence.

"@GraySheep was there and he didn't raise any concerns"

You don't want to be silent and have the truth to come out.

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    If you didn't want to go behind the back, or can't trust management, the other option is not conflict. I would probably address an email to your "team-leader" and CC your manager and start with: "Thank you for giving me an opportunity to assist the business in assessing the suitability of solution Y from company Z. I have summerised my assessment below, and also a brief assessment of other options. I'm always free to discuss any of the points if you wish." Then give a breakdown on the pros/cons of the solution, and follow up with pros/cons of competing solutions. (Maybe not in as much depth). – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 14:43
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    I wouldn't mention, at all, that they are friends with the "team-leader", or even treat them specially. Be objective. If you wanted to go behind the back of the team-leader, you can raise concerns with the manager, but he will probably ask you to prepare a list of pros/cons, so maybe the letter above is a starting point. – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 14:45
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    Gregory's comment on "saying it is crap won't get you far" remains true even if the software is, indeed, a steaming pile of crap – corsiKa Mar 13 '19 at 15:11
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    @GregroyCurrie I explained the facts in a short mail to the boss. I didn't use the word "crap" and any negative. I just explained that it wouldn't help and we should still use technology X, first because it is what the customer wants, and second because it is the common technology of the industry and the devs simply should learn it. No answer arrived, but I am sure that the boss read it. – Gray Sheep Mar 13 '19 at 17:33
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    @GraySheep If you're invited to a meeting about something, you're implicitly expected to be involved in the outcome of that meeting. Not doing that would endanger your job in an average company. It's absolutely fine and expected for you to sometimes disagree with someone higher up than you. If they have the authority to choose otherwise, or if your boss chooses their option, you just have to go with it. That's the point of having a chain of command. But everyone does expect you to have a valid technical opinion, otherwise they wouldn't have hired you. – Graham Mar 13 '19 at 22:19

(Good) management is influenced by logic, not name-calling. Reading your OP, you have mentioned that you think this software is crap, but you didn't say how or why. If I was a manager and I read your OP, I would think you were just a troublemaker, and you would lose face with me. If this is how you wrote the email to management, then it's a good thing you didn't send it.

What you want to do is lay out, plainly and objectively, what your objections are. Maybe you have a use case that this software doesn't satisfy? Maybe the software is too slow or doesn't meet other benchmarks? Maybe the support isn't there for it, so technical issues that arise would be hard to resolve? Maybe it's just plain buggy? Whatever the problems are, explain them in a clear and detailed way to management. Don't use words like "crap" or "horrible" or whatever; those are weasel words and don't mean anything. Outline your concerns, and let your concerns speak for themselves.

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  • Thanks. This is what I did. It probably won't have any effect, we will see on the long-term, what happens. – Gray Sheep Mar 13 '19 at 18:04

But something I need to do. But what?

First thing constructive to do is to check your motivations carefully, why do you need to do something? Why do you want to engage in a dispute that you think you will lose.

If you're asked to analyse a tool, do so, give the pro's and cons without bias. Don't create problems without complete analysis or reason.

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    @GraySheep Those are two personal reasons. You need to make this about the business. – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 13:10
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    @GraySheep 1) Is being cross-platform important to your business? 2) Is free software important to your business? 3) What does this even mean? – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 13:15
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    @GraySheep Those are excellent reasons. You should replace the term "crap" with "unsuitable" then :) And these are the type of things you should articulate in your letter. – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 13:21
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    @GraySheep This all seems very personal for you. You need to adjust your mentality and shift towards acting (or at least seen to be acting) in the best interest of your employer. – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 13:40
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    It sounds to me like you're just taking your co-worker's proposal personally because it might make you a redundant resource. Maybe the business simply values getting rid DevOps resources more than the other issues you suggest that the proposal will cause. – Rich Mar 13 '19 at 20:39

Rewrite the letter you were going to send your boss.

Don't assume bad intentions from your coworker.

Be polite. Be specific. Drop the word "crap". Give your honest but detailed evaluation and be able to back up every point you raise, and ideally put an example of each point in the letter.

I've reviewed the code being offered and I view it as sub-standard for the following reasons...
1) Reason #1. Reason for thinking this is a problem. Example.

(Sample) 1) There are no comments in the code. They have X lines of code. I did a grep search and found a grand total of Y comment lines. For perspective our current code base has...

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    Point taken, though some people don't consider comment line % a great indicator of code quality :) – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 13:19
  • @GregroyCurrie I took over a code base that had 100k+ lines of code which had a total of 7 comment lines. Those 7 lines of comments were worthless. There was no external documentation at all. He's got strong opinions, hopefully there are strong reasons. – Dark Matter Mar 13 '19 at 13:21
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    If 7 lines of comments were worthless, couldn't 99k of comments be worthless :) I agree that good code has meaningful comments though. – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 13:25
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    @TimB No argument from me. (Though some languages make it easier to write clear code, compared to others). – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 14:48
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    @Dark Matter: On the other end of the scale, I've seen profusely commented code (often done with automatic "documentation" generators) in which the vast majority of comments are of the "i++; /* increment i */" sort. – jamesqf Mar 13 '19 at 16:46

He invited me to this meeting, even though he had enough information from my preferences to know that I will likely strongly dislike the idea.

Perhaps he is feeling pressured by his friends to put their software forward, even though he may not like it himself. He could be hoping that someone else will notice its flaws.

I might talk to him directly (depending on our relationship) and try to determine what he really thinks. I would also try to point out the flaws in more neutral language than 'crap' software.

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  • Very true. One of the best ways of saying "No" politely is to push the responsibility on to someone else. – Paul Johnson Mar 15 '19 at 11:35

You call this software "crap" a couple of times, so you clearly know a thing or two about what it does, and what your company actually needs. Write up a document (email) outlining your concerns about the features / functionality, and send it to your boss.

I would suggest also offering alternatives, such that you're not simply coming across as jealous, or negative. Make a table analyzing features, pricing, etc.

Some options that don't share the same risks are X, and Y. The pricing for X is a little higher than the option proposed by John, but offers these advantages: ...

At the very end of the email you may include a phrase along the lines of:

As you can see, there are solid reasons why we should continue looking for a product to fill this niche. Furthermore I fear that John's decision to recommend this software may be influenced by the fact that a close personal friend of his created it.

You may want to hold that tidbit of information in reserve just in case you have to escalate, however.

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  • Yes, I know far more enough from this software to call it a crap. Its only advantage is that it helps the developers to avoid learning technology X, what is a quite common technology in the industry, but somehow they've solved to avoid to learn it. Now the teamlead came with this software, which avoids them to learn it, as a side effect 1) it helps him to exterminate me 2) it will lead to malpractice on the long-term. I see these, but now the word of the teamlead + the developers standing with him is against mine. Surely mine will be more weak. – Gray Sheep Mar 13 '19 at 17:02

Talk about it with your colleague/unofficial teamleader.

You think he knows your opinion about the topic but it may not be this way.

He invited you to the meeting which means he values your opinion. (I assume here that he didn't invite you to taunt you because your high opinion on the good working climate)

Tell him directly that the software he wants to introduce would, in your opinion, hinder further development of the project. The cause for his support for the software in question might be personal, which he should overthink. If this isn't the case ask him to explain to you why he thinks the software will improve the development.

A normal discussion about work related topic which does affect your work shouldn't cause danger to your employment or social status in your company. It might even improve because you show compassion for your work.

But most importantly: You do it professional.

EDIT1: If your colleague does not show any kind of good reasoning talk about it with your manager afterwards. Maybe propose a three-way discussion to get the topic dealt with fast.

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    He could also have been invited to give the illusion of objectivity. – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 13:22
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    Nevertheless the fact that OP was invited to the meeting means that the OP does have competence in the topic and is therefore qualified/entitled to be part of the decision. And because the co-worker cannot end the illusion now means that he can do nothing about OP expressing his honest and professional opinion. – GittingGud Mar 13 '19 at 13:28
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    I don't think that's necessarily true, though it is probably true in this instance. But I agree fully that he should make the most of this "illusion". – Gregory Currie Mar 13 '19 at 13:31

Your colleague has a conflict of interest. You should discuss this with the other members of your organization, and make sure that the software is properly evaluated by a party without vested interest and free from undue influence.

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  • A possible conflict of interest is a non-issue if the tool is good, and this is what now the whole team except me is saying. – Gray Sheep Mar 13 '19 at 18:02

If his friend doesn't work for the company, then injecting his buds software into the company's workflow is simply a conflict of interest. Pointing that out would help a lot.

I'd also explain to my boss why this software is crap and I'd try to provide some cost benefits analysis of using it. I'd even go so far as to attempt to show how much money the company will lose from the lost development time dealing with the unmaintainable can of worms your team lead's friend is trying to pass off as code. That should help too.

You are going above your team leads head though, so this likely won't have the greatest impact on your career at your current company. You're a dev though; you can always get another job, that will probably come with a pay raise, so you shouldn't be scared in situations like these.

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  • I am here because the athmosphere is nice and the bosses hear us. These are huge improvements to my previous experiences, and they worth the little bit lower wage for me. I don't want to become a slave again only for +10%. If I switch to another job, I will lose these. – Gray Sheep Mar 13 '19 at 16:53
  • Ok. There is a technology, call "technology X", which is quite common in the industry and practically all useful developer knows it. Our devs somehow managed to avoid to learn it until now. The tool, call it "tool Y" what the teamlead want to inject, has three effects: 1) avoids the devs to learn "technology X" 2) will lead to various malpractices/customer unsatisifedness on the long-term 3) expels me as devops from the projects using "technology X". | These are the facts. What are the motives, these are still unknown for me. – Gray Sheep Mar 13 '19 at 17:15
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    @GraySheep why is your involvement with the project pivotal to its success? What other advantages would learning tech X give your team. You need an estimate of how much time/money the malpractices will cause. Also, is there a good reason that your team insists on not using tech X? – user53651 Mar 13 '19 at 17:19
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    Regarding your answer: I can't point to the conflict of interest because I am 99% sure, but I have no proof. I won't accuse anybody falsely. And the final decision is not in the hands of the teamlead, but in the hands of the boss. I explained these in a mail, so professionally as I could. My word will be probably far weaker than the whole teams. – Gray Sheep Mar 13 '19 at 18:01
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    @GraySheep You must be in London. Be careful about the freelancer stuff. You can make double, but you also need to pay for all of your stuff, healthcare, taxes, etc... – user53651 Mar 14 '19 at 15:22

make questions.

identify some issue that will arise using that software and ask how it will be handled.

we support multiple platforms but this tool does not: how this will be handled? we're leaving development on platform X that's the core of our customer base?

this new tool is licensed under license X that is not compatible with our product: a rewrite of our license may be required?

we're automating task X, Y and Z with a cut to the costs of 15% but this new tool is not compatible with current automation software: which automation solution we have to acquire to achieve the same goal?

management pay attention to costs but usually does not care about technicalities; if you can provide a few heavy questions with visible costs attached your point can get across easily.

make too many or too silly/whyning questions and you will lose any traction from now on and will be labeled as troublemaker.

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You mention this software being awful, crap as you call it.

Prove it!

Crap software is:

  • very unstable (what if you let it run with a lot of requests at the same time) => perform load tests
  • very picky on input data/parameters (when you enter a string where a number is expected, the whole thing crashes).
  • from a developer point of view, very heavily maintainable : imagine that somebody requests a change, how many time is needed for developing an obvious modification?
  • not user friendly (how should it look like?)
  • wasting resources (how long does it take for making the easiest of calculations, how many memory does it use up, ...?)

I understand: setting up an environment for proving the bad quality of this software might take some time, so in order to convince management, you might inform management about your doubts and request for some time to prepare the testing environment (in case this is not available yet).

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  • This is what I did. I've proven it. Unfortunately, my arguments were probably not enough convincing in these circumstances, but this was the most I could do. – Gray Sheep Mar 15 '19 at 9:47

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