Field Service built an internal URL shortener

“Management asked for it.”— Petra, Field Service

Reason:

Allegedly because the documentation describes a button that no longer exists. Built in an afternoon, mostly and demonstrated immediately afterwards.

Built by:

Petra, someone from Procurement

Build time:

43 minutes

Built with:

Google Apps Script

Database:

a Git repository with one JSON file per customer

Authentication:

Google sign-in, any Google account

Deployment:

behind a domain registered for €2 during a workshop

Responsible:

a vendor whose support contract expired 12 months ago

Documentation:

an email with the subject "quick overview"

Security situation:

the pentest report is still marked draft

Future disaster:

It will silently stop syncing and nobody will notice for 2 months.

Age: 12 days · originally expected to last 7 days · 2 owners so far · survived 1 reorganisation · last meaningful change 12 days ago

Rated common mostly because: 15 users, €2k per year, alive 2x longer than intended.