[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 […]
Here’s an interesting story over at Physorg.com about the IT project supporting the 2008 Olympics in Beijing: Atos Origin is the information technology partner for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the job of designing, building and operating the invisible IT infrastructure that supplies results, events and athlete information to the media, spectators and the […]
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: conceptual OK, the pitfall title itself may be something of a giveaway, but stop and think: how often does a new technology or methodology (”the TOM”) emerge, only to have IT departments (or their executive overseers) seek to adopt the TOM for time-, […]
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 […]