Re: Interesting article...

[Steve Richter <stephenrichter@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 5/4/05, Wilt, Charles <CWilt@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Steve,
> 
> Just a quit reply to go with my last.  Didn't realize you were giving a link 
> to the /. discussion that took place right after the system crash.
> 
> I was thinking you were referring to the /. discussion of the article itself.
> 
> You're correct, that the link you posted has some good info.  Haven't run 
> across any posts saying that the bug ( or more importantly its affects) were 
> know.  But I'm not through them all yet.

I haven't either Charles. I am guessing on all of this, but based on
my experience, what we all have learned in our careers, users and
programmers become specialized in packages.   Comair was using a
package for their crew scheduling system.  So it has to be that those
specialists were aware of the parameters of the package.  The fact
that management does not listen to the specialist is not surprising -
but it just focuses the blame where it should be - the DP managers.

-Steve

> 
> Charles Wilt
> iSeries Systems Administrator / Developer
> Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America
> ph: 513-573-4343
> fax: 513-398-1121
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Steve Richter
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2005 10:20 AM
> > To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> > Subject: Re: Interesting article...
> >
> >
> > On 5/4/05, Wilt, Charles <CWilt@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > I believe you're missing the point of the article.  The
> > point wasn't that "legacy systems are bound to fail"; the
> > point was that management failed to realize the risk they
> > were running "getting by" with a system that didn't really
> > meet the current needs very well.
> > >
> > > I don't know where you heard that the hard coded limitation
> > was known, but even if that was indeed true, I'd imagine that
> > no one understood what exceeding that limit was going to do.
> > Again, management (and IT) failed to realize the risk they
> > were running.
> >
> > slashdot is the place to get the best news on this topic:
> >
> > http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/26/052212&from=rss
> >
> > People must have known of the limit.  Comair was not the only airline
> > to use the package and it had been in use for many years.  Other
> > airlines would have hit the limit and users who specialized in
> > operating the system would have taken their experience with them as
> > they moved from job to job.  So were there people in the Comair
> > organization who knew of the software limitations?  I have little
> > doubt.  Did DP management know of the limitations?  If they did not
> > then they were not very good managers.
> >
> > -Steve
> >
> > >
> > > Charles Wilt
> > > iSeries Systems Administrator / Developer
> > > Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America
> > > ph: 513-573-4343
> > > fax: 513-398-1121
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > > [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
> > Nathan Andelin
> > > > Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 11:22 PM
> > > > To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> > > > Subject: Re: Interesting article...
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I followed the Comair story fairly closely as it was
> > > > unraveling.  The age of the system didn't cause it to
> > > > fail.  It had a hard coded capacity of 32K schedules
> > > > per month, which the airline finally exceeded due to
> > > > growth and weather related traffic.  The system
> > > > performed reliably as designed.  The capacity
> > > > limitation was known.
> > > >
> > > > Rather than making a generalization that legacy
> > > > systems are "bound to fail", the article should have
> > > > emphasized a management culture and approach that was
> > > > "bound to fail".
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --- "Wilt, Charles" <CWilt@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > > All,
> > > > >
> > > > > Ran across this article which I found quite
> > > > > interesting....
> > > > >
> > > > > Bound To Fail
> > > > > The crash of a critical legacy system at Comair is a
> > > > > classic risk management mistake that cost the
> > > > > airline $20 million and badly damaged its
> > > > > reputation.
> > > > >
> > > > > http://www.cio.com/archive/050105/comair.html
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > How many of us are working with a legacy application
> > > > > system held together by spit and duct tape that we
> > > > > know really should be replaced?
> > > > >
> > > > > Charles Wilt
> > > > > iSeries Systems Administrator / Developer
> > > > > Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America
> > > > > ph: 513-573-4343
> > > > > fax: 513-398-1121
> > > > >
> > > > >
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