I simply note that the
government does not build the computers they use. They may set
specifications (in some instances) and they run acceptance testing –
they may even have contracts that penalize failure. What they don't
do is translate any management techniques that work to other
programs.
Healthcare.gov
and the Inevitably Digital Future of American Governance
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on November 2, 2013
It’s
remarkable how inexperienced Washington is when it comes to
developing complicated technology unrelated to national defense.
by Zachary
Karabell
“It’s safe to say
that Congress has never before passed a federal law whose primary
mode of delivery is a web portal that will be used by tens of
millions of people. And not just one portal, but a portal that
serves as a gateway to numerous state healthcare exchanges along with
the federal exchanges; a portal that must link up newly designed web
pages and interfaces with legacy systems stretching from the Internal
Revenue Service to the Veterans Administration to the Medicare and
Medicaid systems, none of which are easily compatible or speak the
same language. Many in the tech community have tried to analyze what
went wrong with the web launch. Some think the government shouldn’t
have hired low-bid contractors, choosing agile development teams
instead. There was also a lack
of sufficient testing of the site before launch, but the site
went
live anyway because of political considerations. That the site’s
code is not public has limited the ability of even savvy tech-heads
to fully explain the many problems. What is evident, however, is how
inexperienced the federal government is when it comes to developing
complicated technology systems unrelated to the defense department.
Testing is certainly a major issue. Whenever a large or small tech
company releases a new version of software, it is after months of
assiduous testing of bugs and glitches in a beta version. Even then,
the more complex the programs, the more problems there are.”
(Related)
...unfortunately.
The
Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on November 2, 2013
Nicholas
Carr – We
rely on computers to fly our planes, find our cancers, design our
buildings, audit our businesses. That’s all well and good. But what
happens when the computer fails?
“The experience of
airlines should give us pause. It reveals that automation, for all
its benefits, can take a toll on the performance and talents of those
who rely on it. The implications go well beyond safety. Because
automation alters how we act, how we learn, and what we know, it has
an ethical dimension. The choices we make, or fail to make, about
which tasks we hand off to machines shape our lives and the place we
make for ourselves in the world. That has always been true, but in
recent years, as the locus of labor-saving technology has shifted
from machinery to software, automation has become ever more
pervasive, even as its workings have become more hidden from us.
Seeking convenience, speed, and efficiency, we rush to off-load work
to computers without reflecting on what we might be sacrificing as a
result. Doctors use computers to make diagnoses and to perform
surgery. Wall Street bankers use them to assemble and trade
financial instruments. Architects use them to design buildings.
Attorneys use them in document discovery. And it’s not only
professional work that’s being computerized. Thanks to smartphones
and other small, affordable computers, we depend on software to carry
out many of our everyday routines. We launch apps to aid us in
shopping, cooking, socializing, even raising our kids. We follow
turn-by-turn GPS instructions. We seek advice from recommendation
engines on what to watch, read, and listen to. We call on Google, or
Siri, to answer our questions and solve our problems. More and more,
at work and at leisure, we’re living our lives inside glass
cockpits… Whether it’s a pilot on a flight deck, a doctor in an
examination room, or an Inuit hunter on an ice floe, knowing demands
doing. One of the most remarkable things about us is also one of the
easiest to overlook: each time we collide with the real, we deepen
our understanding of the world and become more fully a part of it.
While we’re wrestling with a difficult task, we may be motivated by
an anticipation of the ends of our labor, but it’s the work
itself—the means—that makes us who we are. Computer automation
severs the ends from the means. It makes getting what we want
easier, but it distances us from the work of knowing. As we
transform ourselves into creatures of the screen, we face an
existential question: Does our essence still lie in what we know, or
are we now content to be defined by what we want? If we don’t
grapple with that question ourselves, our gadgets will be happy to
answer it for us.”
(Related) If only to
provide contrast... 25 software engineers, 4 months, and it works.
How
Elon Musk Approaches IT at Tesla
Leave it to Elon Musk
to buck conventional wisdom. When Tesla
Motors Inc. the Silicon Valley-based automaker he founded, needed
to improve the backend software that runs its business, he decided
not to upgrade the company’s software from SAP
AG. Instead, he told CIO Jay Vijayan to build it himself.
… His team built it
in just four months.
For my Ethical Hackers.
It's never too early to start planning your hacks!
INTELLIGENT
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
Vehicle-to-Vehicle
Technologies Expected to Offer Safety Benefits, but a Variety of
Deployment Challenges Exist
Tools for starving
students?
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