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Failed IT systems

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    Failed IT systems

    Seems to be consistent failure and inadequacy of IT systems (mainly government programs - health, immigration, borders etc).

    With all due respect - WTF does this keep happening?

    Are IT guys incapable of delivering systems that work?

    Best wishes, PG
    http://www.cih.org/news-article/disp...housing_market

    #2
    Originally posted by PurpleGorilla View Post
    Seems to be consistent failure and inadequacy of IT systems (mainly government programs - health, immigration, borders etc).

    With all due respect - WTF does this keep happening?

    Are IT guys incapable of delivering systems that work?

    Best wishes, PG
    I've just seen a £50m project canned today. Seems to be adding permies, contractors, consultants together to do all the work and making a 3rd party culpable is a recipe for disaster.
    What happens in General, stays in General.
    You know what they say about assumptions!

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      #3
      Suity has the answer.

      Comment


        #4
        I've just been warned of no more renewals on this gig. The project was actually going well and I had high-hopes of delivery in about six months.

        Some ex-Goldman's management cretin has arrived and is outsourcing everyone to Serbia.

        Most problems come from:

        Poor specification or design.
        Poor technical skills (looking for the cheapest/outsourcing).
        Management infighting.

        Another thing. In large companies, if a project is going well you always have ambitious managers who want to muscle in to get the glory, but these snakes never seem to be able to deliver and start by ejecting the key delivery staff.

        Postscript: Most success stories I have seen have been 100% contractor.

        Comment


          #5
          Failure mode analysis, reliability analysis, Markov analysis, if you don't perform these basic activities the cost of failure will remain random. Government projects seem to be happy with that, tax payer always is ready to pick up the bill. Germany is awful in that regard with public projects.
          "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by scooterscot View Post
            Failure mode analysis, reliability analysis, Markov analysis, if you don't perform these basic activities the cost of failure will remain random. Government projects seem to be happy with that, tax payer always is ready to pick up the bill. Germany is awful in that regard with public projects.
            careful, - the Bundesnachrichtendienst could be monitoring your posts

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by BR14 View Post
              careful, - the Bundesnachrichtendienst could be monitoring your posts
              Ich denke nicht
              "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

              Comment


                #8
                Only one that seems to be 'relatively' ok is HMRC......no surprise there.

                Local Dr's surgery I.T always on the blink, wife works there & every day re-directing people to different clinics for their appointments. Local NHS I.T staff say it's the SW contract Co's fault, the SW Co say it's the local I.T.....I suspect the SW Co 'firefighters' don't really understand the SW (probably built by small team of contractors, since gone) and the local NHS I.T staff are certainly underskilled.....minimum wage tech jobs and barely skilled to do more than Install Windows or a new printer.....both of which tasks seem to go wrong too....absolute shambles.

                Better stay healthy for time being, and make sure I have enough dough to go private.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by glebe digital View Post
                  Only one that seems to be 'relatively' ok is HMRC......no surprise there.

                  Local Dr's surgery I.T always on the blink, wife works there & every day re-directing people to different clinics for their appointments. Local NHS I.T staff say it's the SW contract Co's fault, the SW Co say it's the local I.T.....I suspect the SW Co 'firefighters' don't really understand the SW (probably built by small team of contractors, since gone) and the local NHS I.T staff are certainly underskilled.....minimum wage tech jobs and barely skilled to do more than Install Windows or a new printer.....both of which tasks seem to go wrong too....absolute shambles.

                  Better stay healthy for time being, and make sure I have enough dough to go private.
                  GP systems are normally pretty reasonable (EMIS and In Practice), and the NHS doesn't have too much to do with them. It funds them and accredits them, but the GP practices essentially own the relationship with the vendor. IIRC the exception is TPP, which is a GP / community shared system, which the NHS has its fingers all over and it has a pretty bad reputation.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by PurpleGorilla View Post
                    Seems to be consistent failure and inadequacy of IT systems (mainly government programs - health, immigration, borders etc).

                    With all due respect - WTF does this keep happening?

                    Are IT guys incapable of delivering systems that work?

                    Best wishes, PG
                    Not at all. The majority of projects don't fail* .... although a significant minority don't deliver the full intended benefits.

                    You hear about Government failures because they have to be transparent. At least to some degree.

                    I know of several £50m+ failures in the private sector ( no, I wasn't on them ) ... but they would never make the news because no one is interested and the companies involved certainly are not interested in sharing their mess-ups in public.

                    IT failures are rarely due to the technology anyway ( Although the TSB debacle might be ). A lot of the difficulties are in the organisations (in)ability to change. I'm sure we've all been in those situations where it appears that although Project X is apparently a priority large sections of the organisation seem to be actively fighting against it.

                    In short. Change is hard. And IT projects are all about making changes.


                    * Failure: Just remember:

                    Most advertising campaigns don't work.
                    Most books aren't worth reading and don't make any money.
                    Most songs aren't worth listening too and don't make any money.
                    Most films aren't worth seeing and don't make any money.
                    Most restaurants close within 12 months and don't make any money.
                    Most great new products disappear without a trace and don't make any money.
                    Most buildings are designed but never built.
                    Most government policies don't do what they were supposed to.
                    Most wars are not "over by Christmas"
                    Most economists don't predict bubbles.
                    Most art is tulip.

                    IT projects fail. But then every human activity has a high rate of failure.

                    Comment

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