Field Service built an internal URL shortener

“We just need it until SAP is updated.”— Tobias, Field Service

Reason:

Honestly? Because the process has 17 steps, 5 of which are "send an email". Built during an offsite instead of the thing they were asked to build.

Built by:

Tobias, a team lead

Build time:

a long Thursday

Built with:

plain HTML and 1,900 lines of jQuery

Database:

a Postgres replica that accidentally became primary

Authentication:

the tenant ID is a query parameter

Deployment:

deployed through Jenkins, which has been "temporary" for 5 years

Responsible:

a former employee still helping occasionally

Documentation:

two architecture diagrams that disagree

Security situation:

the security review consisted of Kevin saying "looks fine"

Future disaster:

It will be replaced by a second version of itself.

Age: 5.5 years · originally expected to last 2 months · 3 owners so far · survived 1 reorganisation · last meaningful change 420 days ago

Rated common mostly because: €206k per year, 28% chance of becoming business critical, alive 33x longer than intended.