[SIGCIS-Members] my "take" on Obamacare

Fri Nov 8 07:01:54 PST 2013

I agree Bill.  I am willing to bet $100 once we know the background story
to this project's problems that (a) how it was managed was the root cause
of all that happened--project management and (b) that while some technical
issues were probably present, such as linking to preexisting databases and
bad code writing, that they were outgrowths of the first.

The Federal Government has a long history of difficulties in delivering
large high profile projects, and often for reasonable reasons. They rarely
get studied by historians, however, as I discovered when I wrote a book on
the evolution of IT in American government agencies.  However, this current
project may motivate someone now to examine a series of cases in the
Federal Government to identify patterns of work, and possibly suggestions
for improved performance that would fit within the context of how
government works (e.g., its particular form of RFPs, etc.)  An IRS IT
manager once told me that programming new systems in the Federal Government
was like trying to change a flat tire on a car that has to continue moving
down the road at 50 miles an hour driven by inexperienced drivers not
interested in how the car works or the tires are performing.

On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 8:23 AM, William McMillan <wmcmillan at emich.edu>wrote:

> Jim et al., I guess we should have stuck with the Cleanroom methodology of
> Harlan Mills and colleagues some 30 years ago.
>
> Where did they develop that?  Oh yeah, some big outfit called IBM.
>
> Teaching software developers to use disciplined engineering methods is
> like trying to lasso seagulls.
>
> - Bill
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 2:06 PM, James Cortada <jcortada at umn.edu> wrote:
>
>> I had the same practices and same concerns as Ian based on my 38 years at
>> IBM.  What I will want to see are the GAO audits that inevitably will
>> appear on the ACA software and on its role out.  Paul, you may see those
>> before we do; if so, let us know that they have been published.  For those
>> not familiar with the GAO, it is an audit arm of the US Government that
>> reports directly to the Congress and has a reputation for finding the
>> problems with failed projects (not just ICT ones).  GAO interviews
>> participants, management, and looks at the paper trail on projects and
>> summarizes its finding in clear English and usually in a 25-25 page report.
>>  They make boring reading, but the ones on Obamacare will become best
>> sellers!
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 12:01 PM, Ian S. King <isking at uw.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 6:09 AM, Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP at si.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> I published this brief note on Obamacare as an on-line op-ed for the
>>>> HIastory News Network. <http://hnn.us/article/153810>. As the late
>>>> Mike Mahoney used to say, the study of software could benefit from the
>>>> study of history, but few who practice software engineering are aware of
>>>> even the fact that there was such a report in 1968.
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion
>>>> list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at
>>>> http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your
>>>> subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
>>>>
>>>
>>> Nicely turned, Paul.  I believe the practice to which you refer is what
>>> I've always called "code review", in which the author explains his code to
>>> his fellow software engineer, on the principle that if you can't explain it
>>> you don't really understand it.  :-)  In my years as a test manager at
>>> Microsoft I promoted this practice, often over the objections of (primarily
>>> young) developers who felt it was a waste of time and somehow an insult to
>>> their skill.  Sometimes the feedback for code that worked fine was that it
>>> wasn't maintainable, another artifact of overly "clever" code written by
>>> these young cowboys (and girls).
>>>
>>> I, too, find the problems of the ACA rollout disturbing.  As I think
>>> about what is needed in such a system, from the perspective of someone who
>>> has been responsible for more than one global-scope website, I just can't
>>> think there's anything new there.  Drawing from multiple data feeds and
>>> multiple databases, offering a consistent and even compelling user
>>> interface, protecting user data - been there, done that, got the t-shirt,
>>> wore it out.  While software engineering is hardly a mature discipline,
>>> these are known tasks addressing known challenges.
>>>
>>> I already have a dissertation topic, or this one could be fascinating.
>>>  :-)
>>> --
>>> Ian S. King, MSCS ('06, Washington)
>>> Ph.D. Student
>>> The Information School
>>> University of Washington
>>>
>>> "Be yourself, everyone else is already taken."  - Oscar Wilde
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion
>>> list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at
>>> http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your
>>> subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> James W. Cortada
>> Senior Research Fellow
>> Charles Babbage Institute
>> University of Minnesota
>> jcortada at umn.edu
>> 608-274-6382
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list
>> of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at
>> http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your
>> subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
>>
>
>

-- 
James W. Cortada
Senior Research Fellow
Charles Babbage Institute
University of Minnesota
jcortada at umn.edu
608-274-6382
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/attachments/20131108/f1354271/attachment-0001.htm>