 [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 […]
The US Census Bureau is having problems with its new TOMs [technology-or-methodology] for the 2010 Census (emphasis added): WASHINGTON (AP) — Big worries for the nation’s first high-tech census should have been obvious when tests showed some of the door-to-door headcounters couldn’t figure out their fancy new handheld computers. Now, officials say, technology problems could […]
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: conceptual Every technology or methodology (“TOM”) has its own jargon to act as linguistic shorthand. These can be new terms and phrases created specifically for the TOM, or they can be existing words and phrases adapted for the TOM. And such jargon serves […]
This website purports to evaluate the reading level for a given blog or website. My results: If you’re reading this site regularly, feel proud. 🙂 ..bruce..
Judges in Minnesota have ruled — in over 100 cases — that drivers charged with DWI, as part of their defense, have a right to examine the source code of the breath-test machines used. Those rulings were upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court last July. The breath-test device manufacturer, CMI, Inc., has to date refused […]
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 […]