The ACLU is trying to bring a class action lawsuit against the state of Indiana because of problems with its recently rolled-out welfare benefits management system: INDIANAPOLIS – Problems with Indiana’s landmark automation of welfare eligibility have cost some disabled residents food stamps and other benefits they need to survive, the American Civil Liberties Union […]
The opening of Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport has not been without problems, to say the least. And one of the specific problems appears to be the automated baggage handling system: …the computer-operated baggage system has crashed and luggage is now being sorted manually before being loaded on to planes. Twelve return flights to […]
[UPDATED 04/01/08: Here’s some additional commentary on the case.] This news just came over the wire: BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Waste Management Inc said it spent more than $100 million on a computer system that was supposed to help it save money, but instead turned out to be a “complete failure.” Waste Management spokeswoman Lynn […]
Not all large IT projects fail, and even those that are deeply troubled can be turned around: Officials at HM Courts Service (HMCS) say they have turned around a failing £447m project to provide a national case management system for magistrates courts – a scheme that is 16 years late and will cost nearly three […]
…this IT project out of Sydney appears to fit the bill: Ten years after it was first announced and almost $100 million later, Sydney is no closer to a cashless public transport ticketing system after the NSW Government was forced to terminate its contract for the troubled Tcard. Transport Minister John Watkins announced the contract […]
Classic patterns in disputed IT project: Hertz v. Accenture
Just ran across this article at the always-irreverent-but-usually-spot-on Register, an IT news site out of England. The standard patterns of a troubled IT project are so evident in this one report that I may well use it as a case study for my CS 428 (“Real-world software engineering”) class this fall. Here are some of […]
Neverending Story pattern: School District ERP system late, over-budget
A story a few days ago caught my eye, not because it was unusual, but because it follows so familiar a pattern. Here are a few excerpts from the article: MANATEE — Late nights, hefty contracts and humming computers are a norm in the district’s School Support Center, where employees are working to fix a […]
Minnesota DMV software project: Faulty Towers/Neverending Story patterns
In my 2000 white paper, “Patterns in IT Litigation: System Failure (1976-2000)” [PDF], which I researched and wrote while at PricewaterhouseCoopers, I describe six broad fact patterns to classify the types of software system implementation failure. One of those patterns I named “Faulty Towers”: The client buys the system from [or has the system developed […]
![The Meltdown/Spectre CPU bugs: a dramatic global case of the “Unintended Consequences” pattern [UPDATED 4/4/18]](http://bfwa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/intel-cpu-150x150.jpg "The Meltdown/Spectre CPU bugs: a dramatic global case of the “Unintended Consequences” pattern [UPDATED 4/4/18]")
Back in 2000, PricewaterhouseCooper published my research white paper, “Patterns in IT Litigation: Systems Failure (1976-2000)” (PDF). This paper reflected research I and my staff had done over several months on roughly 120 two- or three-party lawsuits involving information technology. I found that almost all of these lawsuits fell into one or two of six […]