Webster is Principal and Founder at at Bruce F. Webster & Associates, as well as an Adjunct Professor for the BYU Computer Science Department. He works with organizations to help them with troubled or failed information technology (IT) projects. He has also worked in several dozen legal cases as a consultant and as a testifying expert, both in the United States and Japan. He can be reached at 303.502.4141 or at bwebster@bfwa.com.
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] Categories: managerial It is a sad truism that upper management typically asks just two questions about a software development effort: “Why isn’t someone coding yet?” (known as the ‘WISCY’ question) and “When will the program ship?” These are not bad questions per se, but […]
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] Categories: conceptual, political Native tribes in the South Pacific developed “cargo cults” during the middle part of the 20th century. Having observed planes (such as the venerable DC-3) landing on their islands and discharging goods from inside, these tribes created simacrula of the planes […]
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: political Imagine the following scene. Your company’s executive staff gathers for a presentation on a new technology or methodology that will revolutionize information productivity. After a presentation citing the ongoing problems of information management, enterprise computing, and competitive response, you are presented with […]
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: political You know the drill. By hook or crook, through long weeks and late hours and ruthless compromising, you finally deliver the project. It’s finished, it’s out the door, and you have taken a few weeks to remind yourself what real life is […]
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: political, architectural, managerial While discussing the challenges of software development with Taligent trainer Tom Affinito back in the mid-1990s, I mentioned — citing Fred Brooks — the need for a chief architect. Tom immediately responded, “Yes, and ultimately architecture is a political act.” […]
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 […]