One of the reasons I love software development so much is because I can work without getting stuck.
Whether it's working on using an ATOM (it was 1997 and I might have this name wrong) adapter to allow a computer to talk to a textile machine or learning the intricate internals of Oracle PL/SQL or Oracle Apex, or using Delphi to do things that no one else has done (as far as I know), the beauty of software development is that one is in control of the stack, and if something is missing one can usually just write it.
The biggest hurdle to "just write it" is convincing the client or project team that this is the easiest (and quickest (and easy to maintain)) approach.
Note that I always try to find out if there is existing software that will do the job, but if I've spent a bit of time on this and I know that I can develop what we need in a shorter time than it will take to find and test the online software, then it's a matter of making this decision and making it happen.
In about 2012, Sage brought out a version of Sage 300 ERP (called Accpac back then), and although we did all the required testing and porting between the old version and the new version, we discovered that reports didn't work in the client environment, even though they worked in the development environment.
In order to help the client out, I had to backup their two main company databases, restore them on my machine, run the reports, and this became a daily chore. I contacted our local support agents, national agents, EMEA (Africa and Middle East) agents, and got no where. I got one of those "you're the only company with this problem" response, a response that I don't believe and which simply deflects responsibility. I needed help. I needed it fast. I didn't get it.
But I don't get stuck. I needed to talk to the IT Director of Sage, but no one would allow me to get to him. I knew what his project team needed to do and I had identified the particular bug we had that they hadn't tested in their development.
In the one and only case where Twitter worked for me, I contacted the Sage IT Director via Twitter, sending him a direct message. I pointed him to a detailed online Report that I had written on SAP's web site, as SAP owned Crystal Reports by then, and Sage Accpac reports were all written in Crystal. The problem was in this interface. The IT director responded within 24 hours! I explained the problem during a phone call, and said that possibly only a single DLL needed to be modified. He said that he would get his project team onto this right away. I received the required patch the next day!!
I was over the moon and after implementing and solving the problem, I took myself off to The Cape Grace Hotel at The Waterfront in Cape Town, for a mini celebration celebrating myself!
Call me if you've got a problem no one can solve! Call me if you've got questions on your supplier's database and you're waiting for replies and they either cant'reply or they're taking too long to reply. david at itneurosurgeon.com; + 27 74 119 3246. Call me if you've got a missing resource in your development team. Call me if you want to work faster. Call me if you want to use AI as a collaborative tool. I don't need to take over. I just need you get to the top of the particular mountain you're climbing. You can take it from there.