Taking over a project - What should I ask the previous programmer? [closed]

Answer 1

What is the periodic "hand work" that the system requires?

You know, those little jobs that crop up every so often that haven't been automated yet. How do you fix it and how do you recognize it.

Answer 2

• How you would install the site on a brand new server.
• What the site does & what it's used for.
• What databases are used & where they are.

Answer 3

2 to 3 days sounds short for the handover so don't be afraid to ask for more.

First get a working local environment with source control, ide, build and release steps all up on running locally.

Then try and get an impression of the code quality by going through it briefly. If it looks bad then you may not get so much useful information regarding the implementation from your predecessor.

However everything regarding deployments, db servers, backup strategy , registrations etc. should be checked. Also all licenses for libraries etc and also a list of the most common errors (if they have a bug tracker tool this may be useful)

Also you need to see how helpful your predecessor is as I've seen several styles of handover form ones where the person giving the handover was friendly but misleading to where they gave sarcastic answers to the questions asked of them in a form of a questionaire (which while funny wasn't professional) to just plain disinterested.

Answer 4

Make sure you can BUILD IT and RELEASE IT.

Too many times there are problems with missing information.

You need to KNOW ALL THE ancillary stuff.

Get a fresh machine and make sure you can duplicate a build and release.

EDIT: after that it would be: "What are all the things you have been meaning to fix but did not get to and are not documented anywhere"?

Answer 5

"If you could go back and redevelop this system, what would you do differently"

Answer 6

Ask about any roadblocks or work-arounds the original developer came across.

Learn about your customers as well. Are they picky? What do they expect?