2014-05-10

I have recently taken a job finishing the development of a .Net application. The delivery of the application is two years behind schedule. The previous developer died before I had a chance to meet him.

I have been given copies of directories from the deceased's laptops. There are many directories of code (including seemingly duplicate directories), two SQL Server databases, and some Visual Studio project files. A quick wc shows about 300,000 lines of .Net code.

There is no source control, no documentation, no licenses for third party controls, no unit tests, no build scripts, no release scripts, no install, and no real software development process to speak of. Maybe some of these things did exist, but I can't find them.

I am an experienced software developer, but I have never been in a situation quite like this. Lastly, I have budget to buy tools as necessary, but not more staff.

What would be your 90-day plan to get this project moving again? Obviously I have months or years of work ahead of me; what should be my priorities?

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