Legal built a compliance checklist with checkboxes and no checks

“You need to know the exact link.”— Chen, Legal

Reason:

Allegedly because someone built a prototype during lunch. With a roadmap in the README, last touched 34 days ago.

Built by:

Chen, a working student

Build time:

9 evenings

Built with:

an Electron app, for a form

Database:

a SOAP service returning XML from 4 years ago

Authentication:

the security review was postponed until after launch

Deployment:

deployed 10 minutes before the builder went on holiday

Responsible:

a team that has since been reorganised

Documentation:

an email chain containing the phrase "see below" 12 times

Security situation:

the app is secure because the browser shows a padlock

Future disaster:

It will be presented to management as evidence that shadow IT works.

Age: 5.1 years · originally expected to last 14 days · 4 owners so far · survived 1 reorganisation · last meaningful change 3 days ago · original builder left 803 days ago

Rated rare mostly because: 42% chance of becoming business critical, 68 users, alive 133x longer than intended.