Renowned risk analyst and systems expert Robert N. Charette has dedicated the last two decades of his distinguished 50-year career to exploring the persistent issue of software failures. Charette has done us all a big favor by illuminating the rotten underpinnings that have poisoned the IT sector. His article, “Why Software Fails,” published in IEEE Spectrum in 2005, was particularly prescient. His ongoing examination reveals a troubling trend: despite the passage of time and trillions of dollars wasted, organizations continue to make the same costly mistakes.
Luckily, Charette, now a Special Projects Editor at IEEE Spectrum, has witnessed all of that delusional thinking that so often infests IT professionals. He’s seen this as well from government officials and corporate executives. He does not understand why society today is OK with software failing all the time. He uses high-profile incidents such as the recent outages experienced by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to illustrate this disturbing trend.
“Software is as significant as electricity. We would never put up with electricity going out every other day, but we sure as hell have no problem accepting AWS going down,” Charette stated.
Though their acceptance seems widespread, Charette is quick to note that these failures are mostly predictable and easily avoidable. He’s seen that the biggest hurdle in getting most organizations to take steps to prevent those failures is treating it like a pressing issue.
“The biggest tragedy is that [software failure] is for the most part predictable and avoidable. Unfortunately, most organizations don’t see preventing failure as an urgent matter, even though that view risks harming the organization and maybe even destroying it,” he explained.
Charette has been an outspoken critic of the Canadian government’s Phoenix paycheck system. This system has failed at addressing chronic issues for almost a decade. He’s right to say that our acceptance of these failures is a symptom of a deeper cultural acceptance for unreliability in software.
Beyond government systems, Charette gives a nod to the tremendous complexity of the software running our medical devices. He underscores the high expectations and murky issues involving these new technologies, especially when you consider their far-reaching implications on patient safety.
“When you’re building software for medical devices, there are a lot more standards that have to be met and a lot more concern about the consequences of failure,” he noted.
Charette paints a stark picture with statistics from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In fact, on average, the FDA recalls 20 medical devices per month due to software-related problems. This staggering statistic really points to the crux issue. We need to do a better job of ensuring software reliability in industries where failure may result in critical harm.
As with many software development discussions, Charette’s conversations bring to light some uncomfortable realities. At their worst, they are frankly depressing, mirroring the industry’s brutal realities. He truly is committed to doing something about them. It’s all of a piece of his mission, on and off the farm, to improve practices in the industry.
As technology grows more integral to our everyday lives, Charette’s reflections should serve as a wake-up call that, even in the world of software development, private companies have a huge responsibility. His original work remains an inspiration, pushing companies and agencies alike to reconsider how they think about, build, and deploy accountable, reliable software.