Many fields have what has been determined to be “best practice”, the accumulated wisdom on what is most effective. Physicians employ what is called the “standard of care”. Laboratories, manufacturing, and agriculture all have what are thought of as good operating practices.
Web pages are computer programs. They are software. In software development for many years best practice has been to subject developments to beta testing in limited release prior to general release.
Whether you support the PPACA or oppose it, I think we need to agree that best practice was not followed in the rollout of the federal government’s entry point to the healthcare insurance exchanges, healthcare.gov. As was expected, there were some “glitches”.
I have a question and the goodness or badness of the PPACA or of healthcare.gov are, in the final analysis, irrelevant to it. Is it impossible for the federal government to follow best practice in software development projects? I believe it is both for political and budgetary reasons (among others) but I’d be interested in hearing differing opinion on the subject.
I have a lot of experience as an end user and was a beta tester for a couple of government systems. In my view the federal government rarely, if every, follows best practices. But one thing to keep in mind is that government very rarely does its own software development, so the quality and relevance of the end product rests on the quality of the contract and contractual oversight.
End user relevance and support is frequently a problem. I can’t count on the number of times a new system arrives on my door that was the product of a “good idea fairy” up the food chain. If we were lucky we got a day or two of training on this wonder system du jour and that was it. Inevitably it would not be used due to limited support or because it wasn’t a tool relevant to our needs.
The exception is software for specialized equipment like radios and other tactical communication devices as well as crypto gear – that stuff is, in my experience, works well.
I don’t know the answers to the question asked (or not asked), but one of the more depressing observations Dave made (approx. 5 yrs ago) was something to the effect that he doubted that [state] government could ever have an up-to-date-effective computer system. I have no technical expertise, but I regularly deal with the computer systems of a variety of state government agencies, and its hit or miss. Its not what it could be most of the time, and it sometimes seems that its a game of catching-up. The best systems are often in the most insular divisions of state government.
I have never seen a large scale computer based rollout that worked w/o glitches on the first day. In my active gamer days, the first few days of any release were always awful. If this is volume related, t should get better fast. If there are real problems in the software, it will persist. Doesnt strike me as an especially innovative bit of work, so should work.
Steve
Speaking of best practices. Michael is a big fan of electric cars and of course the Tesla. They are pricey, but I hear a discounted one has just come on the market. Best to get it, though, before Ralph Nader rides in on his chariot. He WILL be on the case…….right?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-03/car-b-q-tesla-admits-car-fire-started-battery-pack
Just for you, Drew, because I know you’ll love it:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/09/25/wal-mart-returning-to-full-time-workers-obamacare-not-such-a-job-killer-after-all/
You’d better call Arkansas and remind them about business models and the impossibility of treating employees any better and the whole Obamacare will kill jobs trope.
As for Tesla, I only thank God that gasoline never burns or blows up.
That’s an interesting development, Michael, and I hope we see more of it.
Dave:
I’m going to hazard a guess that you’re referring to Wal-Mart and not to exploding Teslas? I can’t take the latter: I drive past one every day. On a very narrow street.
After 40 years in the computer system and software industry, I’ve found that best practices are not really the best. Each application domain, development domain, size, etc. requires different best practices. Also, these practices are seldom validated as being best or correct. I do try and follow them as much as possible as they have many positive aspects.
One item that pushes towards better practice is fiscal and legal consequences. Companies tend to be more oriented towards best practice when failure can be costly, e.g., airplanes, medical devices, buildings. Think of news media, courts, fines, etc.
Government on the other hand has no fiscal penalty, they just tap the populace for more $. There’s no legal penalties either, e.g., fast and furious, our failing air traffic control system, etc. Government employees have many protections from consequences, so why should they follow PPACA or other standardized body of practice or knowledge.
Note that best practices can’t save our health-care software. The law’s are too complex, too political, and too poorly defined to be implemented in a meaningful time frame. Real best practices start with the specification, e.g., the law, and make sure that it’s complete, comprehensible, implementable, etc.
That’s a criticism frequently levied of “best practices” and why I characterized them as “accumulated wisdom” rather than scientific fact.
Moving from the general to the specific point I was making, I don’t think I’ve heard anybody say that open, general release was a better practice than beta-testing or limited release for producing software with a minimal number of errors.
“Government on the other hand has no fiscal penalty, they just tap the populace for more $.”
Eric,
And, that’s the problem with ever-expanding government, brought up over and over again by fiscal conservatives — that there is no need or urgency to balance check books or live within a budget. Waste simply gets lost in the shuffle of massive government bureaucracies, and it becomes much more expedient to just ask for more dollars from those able to produce them.
That’s one of the reasons why the republicans, IMO, seem less intransigent or off-putting than what Obama and his party are trying to make them out to be. The House is really the only legitimate power in government, these days, steadfastly reminding people of the debt and deficit, offering fiscal restraints to slow and maybe even reverse it. Sequestration and a recessionary economy has indeed applied some unintentional brakes, minimally shrinking the deficit. However, there is a real need to reform all entitlement programs, taxes, as well as replacing the complex machinations of the ACA, creating a plan that is less repugnant and pugnacious. BTW, people are going to these government health exchange sites, browsing, but few are signing up. Yes, it’s too early to be making any predictions. But, the onset of this program is not as rosy or functioning as well as Sebilius/Obama are disingenuously claiming.
“Is it impossible for the federal government to follow best practice in software development projects? ”
We could ask the NSA…not that it would tell us, of course.
Just ask Edward Snowden then.