Legal built a barcode scanner that only works on one phone

“SharePoint has version history.”— Kevin, Legal

Reason:

Allegedly because the CEO tested it on an iPad. Started as Budget2026_backup.xlsm with a script attached.

Built by:

Kevin, a product owner

Build time:

51 minutes

Built with:

an Electron app, for a form

Database:

an Excel file pretending to be a relational database

Authentication:

the user ID is a query parameter

Deployment:

hosted on a server shared with 3 unrelated applications

Responsible:

an intern whose contract ended in May

Documentation:

comments that say "do not change this"

Security situation:

the privacy policy refers to a different application

Future disaster:

It will trigger a call from the works council.

Age: 3.1 years · originally expected to last 14 days · 1 owner so far · survived 3 reorganisations · last meaningful change 74 days ago · original builder left 430 days ago

Rated common mostly because: alive 80x longer than intended, 26% chance of becoming business critical, 2 departments depend on it.