"I Code to Spec"

JustFred said something in the thread about how to deal with handling names, that I found to be all to depressing because it is true far to often:

I code to spec. The product and marketing departments write the spec (what little there is); the QA department amends the spec with overly specific test cases. I suggest that the spec is incomplete and won't handle...but I'm told, just code it to spec. I recommend changed, but we don't have time for edge cases. I point out potential problems, but we're unlikely to get any of those. I warn of potential compatibility problems but we don't care. Are you just trying to be difficult? If there's a problem QA will catch it. The project is overdue already, and by the way here are some new requirements that need to make it in, and we can't change the release date because we already promised the stockholders. Why is your code so complicated, my twelve-year-old kid could write this.

It's not my fault. I code to spec.

-- http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1690138&cid=32609504.

What happens when developers are held liable for their code? Do we become Management's scapegoat for problems that they would not let us fix?