NOTE · ON MAINTENANCE

On reading somebody else's Rails app before touching it.

Every Rails app I inherit looks unfamiliar at first, but the order in which I open files rarely changes. Over enough engagements the same sequence has become a small ritual — and it saves me from making decisions in week two that I’d regret in week four.

The first thing I read is config/routes.rb. Before models, before controllers, before the Gemfile. A routes file is the application’s table of contents: every external surface is there in one place, and you can see what the application claims to do in the time it takes to drink a coffee.

…continues.

If this shape of work is close to what you need, the practical next step is a conversation.
Begin with a system review →
ELSEWHERE

I sometimes write.

Notes on software, operations, and the work — published on my personal site.

www.whysthatso.net →