I've been working with a vendor who is clearly on to something product-wise but the version they shipped is buggy and simple things like modal window controls aren't working. They impressed in the beginning but now the bosses are talking about ditching them because they aren't able to fix the features they shipped in a timely manner. It really made me wonder if they've done damage by shipping too early. Thoughts?
What I'm guessing you are looking at is a prototype, whether they know it or not, and it is rarely a good idea to simply try to fix the bugs in a prototype. They are great for validating early assumptions but typically should be thrown away once that cycle is completed and rewritten.<p>Trying to improve and fix prototype code is typically very challenging. It often has no architecture or structure, so changes and new features are slow to implement.<p>If this vendor doesn't understand this, or it seems likely that having them rewrite it would just result in another prototype quality result then your bosses are right to walk away.