<p style='margin-top: 0px;' dir="ltr"></p>
<p dir="ltr">Hi Jeffrey,<br>
have many thanks for the link to your IFIP paper 2010, where you put the focus on logistic projects. In the summary you mentioned some reasons for the failure. Was the programming language Cobol too slow, was the concept of a centralized database to ambitious, too much work to maintain the database with correct data, was a decentralized approach of data storage with the client server architecture more appropriate, were there problems of not a adjusted numbering systems for spare parts and other kinds of goods to be delivered? Already in 1948 the US Air Force started the logistic project SCOOP with Linear Programming, but it was not in operation, and it only served to produce a scientific image for the Air Force, see the autobiography Murray Geissler: A Personal History of Logistics, Bethesda 1986.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With kind regards from Berlin<br>
Richard Vahrenkamp</p>
<p dir="ltr">Logistic Consulting Berlin</p>
<p dir="ltr">Last paper published:</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mathematical Management - Operations Research in the United States and Western Europe, in: Management Review 34 (2023), Issum 1, pp. 69-91</p>
Montag, 29 Mai 2023, 07:28PM +02:00 von Jeffrey Yost via Members <a href="mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org">members@lists.sigcis.org</a>:<br><br><blockquote id="mail-app-auto-quote" cite="0000001685381510000/0000000000000023270/INBOX" style="border-left:1px solid #FC2C38; margin:0px 0px 0px 10px; padding:0px 0px 0px 10px;"><div dir="ltr">Hi Lee,<div><br></div><div>Do not know if this would be of any interest or use...I wrote a short book chapter case or failure study of the Control Data Corporation's Advanced Logistic System for the USAF--software and real time networked global system. CDC was the main contractor on this system to coordinate all supplies, weapons, personnel, food, medicine, etc. in real time. It would have been the largest logistics system in the world if it worked.</div><div><br></div><div>The system never worked in real time, its whole purpose. It was a giant failure, roughly a $250 million plus software project in the first half of the 1970s. As such, it is one of the largest failed software projects up to that point (perhaps the largest) in the 1970s. As I cite, Willis Ware (who I interviewed and I also researched his papers and did research at the RAND Archives) was Chief Scientist of the Air Force (in addition to head of CS at RAND) and he warned the Air Force it would fail and he was right.</div><div><br></div><div>Jeffrey R. Yost. Materiel Command and the Materiality of
Commands: An Historical Examination of the US Air
Force, Control Data Corporation, and the Advanced
Logistics System in Arthur Tatnall's History of Computing IFIP Proceedings published by Springer (2010). Here is the link<br></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-642-15199-6_10.pdf" target="_blank">Title (springer.com)</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>Best, Jeff</div><div><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><b><font color="#222222">Please connect at:</font></b> <font size="4"> </font><b><font color="#38761d"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@JustCodeCulture" target="_blank">Mastodon</a><font size="4"> </font></font><font><a href="https://twitter.com/justcodeculture" target="_blank"><font color="#ff0000">Twitter</font></a><font color="#000000"> </font></font></b><b><font color="#222222"> </font><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-yost-b714566" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">Linkedin</font></a></b><b> <font color="#222222"> </font></b></div><div><br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><b>Jeffrey Yost, Ph.D. </b></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Director, <a href="http://www.cse.umn.edu/cbi" target="_blank">Charles Babbage Institute</a>; Research Professor, History Sci/Tech/Med</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><div style="color:rgb(32,33,36)"><p class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">222 21st Avenue South, University of Minnesota; Minneapolis, MN 55455</p></div><div><br></div></div><div><b><font color="#cc0000">Studies in Computing and Culture book series, Johns Hopkins U. Press </font></b><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Co-Editor </span></div><div><font color="#222222"><b>PI, NSF-funded CBI project "Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy."</b></font></div><div><a href="https://www.blockchainandsociety.com" target="_blank"><font color="#38761d"><b>Blockchain & Society Blog and Site</b></font></a> (Founder/Leader)</div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><a href="https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">Interfaces: Essays and Reviews in Computing and Culture</font></a> </i></b><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Co-Editor (w/ Amanda Wick)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#38761d"><b>Committee Member, National Academy of Engineering Extraordinary Engineering Impacts on Society</b></font></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://amzn.to/3gqe4R6" target="_blank"><font color="#cc0000">Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry (MIT Press)</font></a></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><br></p></div></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, May 29, 2023 at 10:23 AM Lee Vinsel via Members <<a href="mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org" target="_blank">members@lists.sigcis.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Hi, Jonathan! and all,<div><br></div><div>If there is a good book on why software adoption/modernization fails so often I have missed it, but I have really enjoyed the work of Robert Charette on the topic. I think his first piece on it was simply titled "<a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/why-software-fails" target="_blank">Why Software Fails</a>" and was published in IEEE Spectrum. He has written several follow ups since then. Bob is easily approachable via email and has a wealth of knowledge about these topics. By the way, he is also the author of the recent 12 part series "The EV Transition Explained," which <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/ev-transition-explained-ebook" target="_blank">was also published as an ebook</a> and demonstrates his characteristic insights into system dynamics. </div><div><br></div><div>Lee </div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, May 4, 2023 at 7:58 PM Jonathan Coopersmith via Members <<a href="mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org" target="_blank">members@lists.sigcis.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Any suggestions for a book or article on software modernization failures, especially for large projects? Why do they seem common -- and apparently remain so?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Thank you.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Stay sane</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:verdana,sans-serif">,</span><font face="verdana, sans-serif"> </font></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Jonathan</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Jonathan Coopersmith</span><br></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Professor Emeritus</font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Department of History</font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Texas A&M University</font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">College Station, TX 77843-4236</font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">979.739.4708 (cell)</font></div><div><br></div><div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:verdana,sans-serif"></span><a href="https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/departments/a-chief-skunk-looks-back/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204);font-family:verdana,sans-serif" target="_blank">"A Chief Skunk Looks Back,"</a><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:verdana,sans-serif"> (interview with Sherm Mullin) </span><i style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Aerospace America</i><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> <span>March</span> 202<span>3</span> </span><br></div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></span></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><a href="https://theconversation.com/its-taking-more-time-to-cast-a-ballot-in-us-elections-and-even-longer-for-black-and-hispanic-voters-191711" target="_blank">It's taking longer to vote - especially if you are Black or Hispanic</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/" target="_blank">theconversation.com</a> </font></div></div><div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px"><br></span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Preserving space archives: <a href="https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/" target="_blank">https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/</a></font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><i>FAXED. The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine</i> (Johns Hopkins University Press) </font><br></div><div><br><br><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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