more on Risks Digest 23.60 The coming catastrophe in German social services

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Richard Wiggins <richard.wiggins () gmail com>
Date: November 28, 2004 12:32:08 PM EST
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: weberwu () fhtw-berlin de
Subject: Re: [IP] Risks Digest 23.60 The coming catastrophe in German  
social services
Reply-To: Richard Wiggins <richard.wiggins () gmail com>

Is there any reason to believe that the failure of large software
projects is in any way a uniquely German problem?   Large software
projects, especially those that involve government funding and large
teams of programmers, have been known to fail in spectacular fashion
for decades.   Rumor has it that Google assigns very small teams -- as
few as three hyper-talented people -- to development projects.

Consider:

COMPUTER MELTDOWN THREAT TO BENEFITS Nov 27 2004

EXPERTS were battling yesterday to deal with the biggest computer
crash in British government history.

Pension, child benefit and income support payments have been in crisis
since a software upgrade ended in chaos on Monday.

Around 80,000 computer screens at Department of Work and Pensions
offices - more than 80 per cent of the total - went blank.

Seven in 10 staff could not use the system when it crashed.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/ 
tm_objectid=14919755&method=full&siteid=89488&headline=computer- 
meltdown-threat-to-benefits-name_page.html

... or consider:

Failed software project another industry blow
29 November 2004

The abandonment of a huge software project at IAG New Zealand looks
set to dent the already-wounded reputation of the information
technology industry among banks and insurers.

IAG New Zealand, which owns the State Insurance and NZI brands, has
killed a Wellington-based project worth tens of millions of dollars to
replace the software systems the company uses to calculate premiums
and manage customers' policies.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3111181a13,00.html

There are plenty of US examples, just no headlines over the recent
Thanksgiving holiday. :-)

/rich

> From: Debora Weber-Wulff <weberwu () fhtw-berlin de>
> Subject: The coming catastrophe in German social services

> There's a nice article in c't (in German) on why large software  
> projects
> don't work in Germany: (c't 23/2004, IT-Großprojekte: Warum so viele
> Vorhaben scheitern, S. 218) It ranges from people without knowledge of
> systems deciding what to implement to the politics of procurement.  
> And, of
> course, a good bit of wishful thinking - hoping that computers can cure
> problems that have deeper causes.
>
> Prof. Dr. Debora Weber-Wulff, FHTW Berlin, Treskowallee 8, 10313 Berlin
> Tel: +49-30-5019-2320  http://www.f4.fhtw-berlin.de/people/weberwu/
>
> -------------------------------------
> You are subscribed as galler () umich edu
> To manage your subscription, go to
>  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
>
> Archives at:  
> http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/