The company I am currently working for has me developing a bunch of internal mission critical software. I have one other person that works for me but he's more of a testing guy and not really a developer. The company is concerned about some of these projects and what happens if I am hit by a bus. How does the company pick back up after something like that when there is only one person that knows the code base. One person that knows the current status of the project.
I explained that with my documentation and with the documentation with in the code that they would really only need to hire another programmer that understands the languages that were used and that they could be up to speed pretty quickly.
They suggested an outside firm that might be "kept up to date" on a monthly basis that could "take over" in the event something happened. I just don't see how this could be helpful beyond paying someone for the sake of paying them. Worse I envision a day a month being wasted discussing the project with this consulting firm. I see how this could be helpful I just don't see it as anymore helpful than hiring a programmer after my untimely demise.
Thoughts? Similar situation and how its currently being handled where you work?
Best Answer
Unfortunately what they're doing is "putting all of their eggs in one basket".
Working with an outside firm is quite likely to provide revenue for them, but I seriously doubt that it'll be worth the money. Documentation always looks nice and clear when you write it. The problem is that you only know how much it's worth when somebody else tries to read it - somebody that barely knows something (technical) about the (insides of the) project.
Anyway, reading a complete code base you don't know anything about is possible, it might just take a whole lot of time (way beyond most businesses can afford).
Their best honest bet is to hire someone to work with you (strictly not under any of your guidance) for a certain period of time, and to test how long it takes him to get to a point where he can understand and change important parts of the project.
If it takes more time than they could afford if you left, then they should seriously consider hiring one or more permanent programmers (full or part time), and never let them take the same bus. :)
Either way, good programmers suddenly leaving always makes matters worse than they were.