It depends on the organization how long it takes. In a more 'enlightened' organization it's common courtesy to ping an engineer whose code you are working on improving, and then you can hack away. In a more stodgy one, yes, it could take 10x longer to get everyone on the same page if there are some people whose egos are easily bruised.
Regardless, it's a dick move to rewrite someone's code over the weekend and then roll in on Monday and start demoing it to PHBs that the original authors report to.
It sounds like the author had little respect for the original authors and decided he would swoop in and 'save the day' and not even give them a heads up with what he was doing. Then, he had the nerve to demo it to their superiors, and it's probably not hard to imagine him taking this 'opportunity' to explain why the original authors suck.. I mean, failed to think of this solution. The "but, but, I'm just making the product better" angle provides cover if he's called out on keeping the other authors in the dark.
Being a bit of a cowboy and having tact are not mutually exclusive things. This particular story reeks of someone looking to not just highlight their own skills but to do so at the expense of others.
Maybe it was a dick move for people to waste productivity over turf battles. Everyone's time was wasted.
A lot of these political fights sound a lot like working with unions. "Oh you can't do that, it'll save time and we won't get to work as many hours."..and then a few years later they're wondering why the plant declared bankruptcy.
Regardless, it's a dick move to rewrite someone's code over the weekend and then roll in on Monday and start demoing it to PHBs that the original authors report to.
It sounds like the author had little respect for the original authors and decided he would swoop in and 'save the day' and not even give them a heads up with what he was doing. Then, he had the nerve to demo it to their superiors, and it's probably not hard to imagine him taking this 'opportunity' to explain why the original authors suck.. I mean, failed to think of this solution. The "but, but, I'm just making the product better" angle provides cover if he's called out on keeping the other authors in the dark.
Being a bit of a cowboy and having tact are not mutually exclusive things. This particular story reeks of someone looking to not just highlight their own skills but to do so at the expense of others.