IT (yes, really) built an internal URL shortener

“It's only for one department.”— Bastian, IT (yes, really)

Reason:

Officially because someone said "just add AI". With a settings page that does nothing.

Built by:

Bastian, a controller

Build time:

8 minutes

Built with:

Google Apps Script

Database:

an Outlook shared mailbox with 72,650 unread records

Authentication:

rate limiting is "please don't"

Deployment:

on a VM created for a workshop in 2022

Responsible:

Chen, who is currently interviewing elsewhere

Documentation:

a Notion page with one sentence and 12 empty headings

Security situation:

MFA was disabled after somebody lost their phone

Future disaster:

It will round money differently from Finance.

Age: 17 days · originally expected to last 4 weeks · 2 owners so far · survived 1 reorganisation · last meaningful change 17 days ago

Rated common mostly because: €407k per year, 22% chance of becoming business critical, 2 departments depend on it.