One difficult case took half a day to trace. The logic was sound; a simple value had been entered incorrectly. We redesigned the screen so the same error was harder to make.
Most questions could be answered by HR using the printed evidence. Over many years, only one case seems to have required the special right to ask the developer directly.
I spent roughly half a day tracing a result that initially looked subtle. In the end, the cause was ordinary: a value such as six had been entered where eight belonged. The screen looked plausible enough that the error hid in plain sight.
Blaming the person would not prevent the next occurrence. I changed the attendance-entry screen to display the employee’s contracted start time, end time, and break for the weekday currently being entered.
The user could compare the entry with the relevant contract without leaving the screen or relying on memory. Complaints reaching me disappeared, and HR reported that they had fallen sharply as well.
People make mistakes. Good screens make the likely mistakes visible before they become disputes.
CHAPTER 03 · PART 03 · EPISODE 8 / 10 STORIES · 35 STORIES TOTAL