I was talking with someone this morning about bugs, and I remembered a request I received many years ago. There was a really large Access database project, and I had inherited it. Unfortunately, it had become a total kludge, and I continually requested the client invest the time and money in upgrading it into a more appropriate technology, such as VB.

As is often the case, when it comes to the money discussion, it's tough sometimes to convince a client a re-write is actually less expensive over time, especially when the scope has changed so many times, and looking forward it looks like it is going to do the same. This is actually where agile development methodologies are at their best. So in this case, when I explained that the changes would have a huge impact on the project, and it would likely introduce bugs into the system (they also didn't like to pay for testing, feeling they could test it in use), they advised me to continue.

Just as I predicted, the changes did introduce a lot of issues into their work processes. As I recalled the notes and admonitions I made regarding the changes, I received a rather novel and (to me) humerous response....

Here's the gist of the conversation...

(Client) This is an Access database, right?

(Me) Yes, it is.

(Client) And you are always running custom queries for us, right?

(Me) Yes, I do.

(Client) So maybe you could just run a query to identify all the bugs in the system?

(Me) If I could do that, I'd be retired and very well off right now..

Sometimes a poker face is a wonderful consulting tool. :)