I keep a list in my head of the awful reality of today's IT. Because two reasons:
1 - Sometimes I have to stand up and say we have to stop doing 'Big IT' and then people ask for examples of the sort of thing I mean and it's useful to have some ready to go.
2 - Because this sort of stuff has stopped being new or remarkable. We just don't notice it. And yet it's an appalling, terrible waste of money, effort and potential.
I have other stuff to say about this. But for now, I'm going to just start the list, I'm going to call it:
Examples of Terrible, Terrible Big IT Projects
1. The Met Police cancels contract with Northrop Grumman as there's “no prospect of a finished product being delivered” in time.
New command and control system. £90m contract. Subcontracted to Lockheed Martin. Doesn't work. Met Police say they'll recover the money. Good luck with that. Going back to their 30-year old Unisys system.
2. The TSA paid IBM c$50k to develop an app that randomly pointed left or right.
Not much else to say really.
3. Almost every Volkswagen sold since 1995 can be unlocked with an Arduino
90s security defeated by the passage of time and the workings of Moore's Law. Neither of which, apparently, were anticipated.
4. London councils have signed a 9-year deal with BAE to build a counter-fraud system
9-years! Swapping all sorts of data. They'll do a proof-of-concept pilot in 6 months, then they're tied in. I guess if it doesn't work we'll just try again in 9 years. NB - one of the leaders of the project is quoted as saying “This is a test to see whether councils can work together and share their data in a sensible way.” A test of that sort of thing is a good idea - but it's a 9-year test!
5. Queensland managed to go $1.8bn over budget on a $6m project - a payroll system for 78,000 people
Just read the link. Just read it.
This list will expand. Any suggestions, please let me know.