Power Sellers Unite

elgato · Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 16923 Location: Texas

Are we straining under the weight of an over-reliance on information technology? Is something ready to burst? And when something does, will fingers be pointing at IT and software creators?

Look at some recent examples of IT gone wrong. Toyota is dealing with the most massive recall in its history (for software controlling the pedal assembly). A recently merged bank locked customers out of their accounts for two weeks (as they attempting to merge two IT systems). A few weeks back, The New York Times ran an article on how a number of patients were overdosed with radiation with disastrous and tragic consequences.

We’re relying more than ever on systems and technology for our day-to-day existence and commerce, and at the same time, the impact of any system glitches are magnified to the nth power. However, don’t blame software creators when things go wrong. Look at corporate cultures that fail to provide the tools and support that provide for good governance.

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DaLizardsLair · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 4782

I spent a number of years working in IT, primarily on mainframe systems.

System and program debugging was one of my specialties.

I can state, that in any given program or system, one can only find 99.5% of the possible bugs or glitches through testing. Most of the rest, show themselves, the first time you take it live.

But there is always the one bug that won't pop up until everybody involved in creating it, has left the company.

And when found, it usually turns out to be either a very simple fix, or something that was never thought of, during the design phase.