Comment by exclusiv
7 years ago
Yes this is the best approach IMO. CYA (cover your ass) by explaining the risks, take backups (file & db) and push the hotfix. Sometimes you have to work with what you got while moving toward an ideal.
You then sell them the version control benefits and get them to sign off on that scope instead of being an obstructionist.
Yes, this is good advice. I was a doe-eyed fresh dev back then and in an advantageous position in the sense that nothing was riding on this job. Getting fired wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world. That said, had I gone ahead and made a mistake doing cowboy development on a live site... it would've fallen in my head I would've lost the contract anyway.
As I mentioned in another comment, I work in health now. You really can't turn a blind eye to these things in my current field. You might say I found a field more calibrated to my speed-quality balance than the old job.
Many times it comes down to personal approach too. Believe me, I have zero patience for corporate environments and I'm not afraid to rock the boat because I've been fortunate to never have to care about losing a job. It's a great position to be in. I've just seen so many agencies and clients use cowboy programmers and not adhere to best practices that I've had to help them through that process and sell the best practices.
Glad you're doing well and def. w health you can't move fast and go cowboy because the stakes are higher. We have clients in the health space too and the speed kind of annoys me but I've gotten used to it. But we still have clients that have used bad devs and ftp code so I see the gamut.
Personally I like the in between. Not cowboy but not corporate.