Handing a glass of water to your friend
is like online development projects
There are many ways to hand water to a friend. Carefully, where the water doesn’t splash. Or carelessly, where the chance of it spilling is high.
The water is the data. The glass is the system. Your hands are the team.
Always keep that in mind if you ever do integration work with a team.
Today, after many years in this business, I walked into the office baffled. A team had been in place overnight to execute a gateway integration. What I found when I arrived was a lack of coordination that shouldn’t exist at this level.
So I observed with a post-Father’s Day hangover and I asked questions.
And then I sat down and wrote a memo.
I’m sharing it here because I suspect you’ve either lived this moment yourself and, if not, how to avoid.
Rules for Integrating a Gateway
1. State the goal and the specific timeframe.
Not a general direction. A stated destination and a clock. Everyone should know exactly what done looks like and when it needs to happen.
2. Don’t assume your team knows what was done before or what is in your head.
This one breaks more integrations than bad code does. Write it out. Say it out loud. Confirm it was received.
Pictures! Verbalization. Definitions.
3. Know who is involved and what each person is responsible for.
The Day Supervisor and the Night Supervisor each carry the same responsibility: ensure the right logins are in place, the right communication channels are active , and they personally test the solution.
Not delegate the test but run it themselves.
The Developer needs three things: Access to the gateway, the correct credentials, and a direct line to a supervisor if something is unclear.
No guessing, no waiting in the dark.
The Software company and rep gets held accountable too. Did they provide the right information? Can you document exactly what they provided? If you can’t answer both questions, the handoff isn’t complete.
4. How to write a proper work ticket.
Write out the purpose: the stated goal. List the tools you believe are necessary. Then test those tools before the work begins. Not after. Before.
5. Know what a completed integration actually looks like.
And come prepared with a mental checklist or real one to go through and test it.
The memo is simple. None of this is complicated.
But it’s time consuming.
I’ve watched good teams spill the water anyway because nobody agreed on how to hold the glass.
The glass doesn’t care about your intentions. It only knows whether you spilled.
If you have something to add or share specifically, we would love to hear:
Have a nice afternoon,
Eric