TechEssence.info

As a library manager or administrator, you may find it tempting to make an executive decision when faced with pending deadlines, and say, "Just do the hack for now so we can get this thing out the door. We'll go back and fix it later." After all, you don't have the luxury of looking at the current project in isolation. You have to take into account the public relations aspects of the project, other initiatives that are depending on this one, funding issues, and a whole host of other things that the ability to balance makes you a good administrator.

Even with outside pressures, you should use the "fix it later" technique sparingly. In the vast majority of cases, you're just not going to get around to fixing it at all. Even when you do, your staff will spend at least twice as long making the fix than it would have taken them the first time around.

Any project, given the benefit of hindsight, could have had certain aspects done better. Be very careful, however, before committing to an approach you or your staff know in advance would end up on the regrets list. Instead, use what you've learned from your previous work to plan for the inevitible delays and complications that will arise. This will allow your valued staff to spend their efforts doing it right the first time.