Not the company merge, but the CODE merge.

Minor CODE merges aren’t a problem, but the big ones, the ones we have drifted so far apart on for too long, that we have been afraid to merge back in because “it’s not going to be run anytime soon” – those merges, those are the ones that strike fear into a developer’s heart.

The first question a developer will ask is – “how long”?

And if the answer isn’t “not long”, minds start racing with impacts and outcomes as to what might happen and ways to mitigate what will invariably happen.

It won’t be the merged code that will change, it will be the effecting code that will change as well.

The longer you drift, the heavier the merge.

The solution? Put a timer on how you long you are out of a sync, a week, two tops, then merge it in, get the changes in there. If you have to spend 3 days prepping it for merge, than put that prep time in.

Better to do it now than later when it’s really going to slow you down and take weeks off your delivery.

Want more? Check out my book Code Your Way Up – available as an eBook or Paperback on Amazon (CAN and US).  I’m also the co-host of the Remotely Prepared podcast.

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