IT (yes, really) built a third CRM

“Git is basically a backup.”— Head of Operations

Reason:

Mainly because it was faster to build it than to explain it to HR Generalist. Quietly rolled out to five countries.

Built by:

Lukas, a working student

Build time:

an afternoon, mostly

Built with:

Python and a cron job on a laptop

Database:

a SharePoint list that started as a temporary workaround

Authentication:

MFA is enabled for 2 people

Deployment:

using a self-signed certificate everybody has accepted

Responsible:

Chen, who has not touched it in 13 months

Documentation:

a Word document with tracked changes still enabled

Security situation:

production secrets are in the frontend bundle

Future disaster:

It will get a support rota before it gets an owner.

Age: 9.1 years · originally expected to last 2 months · 3 owners so far · survived 3 reorganisations · last meaningful change 19 days ago

Rated rare mostly because: €1.1m per year, 97 users, alive 55x longer than intended.