Quote Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c View Post
It is... unclear if this excel is the ultimate data collection system, or it is some form of step to feed it. Professionally speaking, I'm not sure which of those options would be worse. There is a comment about "dividing the data into batches" (the source for my "multiple excels" line) that suggests this is a data-consuming step. But that just raises so many more questions, like "why not skip excel and feed the csv directly to the end system, which if it can read excel, can read csv" and "how much are these people paying to do this, because they can't be paid for this, right?" and "can we dust of the death penalty laws for extreme incompetence?"

Grey Wolf
If its the latter, i could maybe see to letting them off on the understanding that it was probably done by a couple of poor guys up at 2 AM desperately trying to make a system that functions (i refuse to say works) when they arent getting paid nearly as much as they should be, with the knowledge that lives may literally be hanging on their ability to get this thing out as quickly as possible. By the time you get to 2 AM development, nothing makes sense anymore anyway. But if its the former, i think the only professional response would be to strap their computer to their back and send them into exile. Nobody who isnt powered by an unhealthy amount of coffee should look at this and go "yes, this is what we want."