Renowned risk analyst and systems expert Robert N. Charette has dedicated the last two decades to exploring the critical issue of software failure. It’s this deep experience that has helped Charette build a truly remarkable 50-year career. He now makes a living as one of the primary voices analyzing failed IT projects, uncovering the delusional thinking that constantly pervades IT professionals. His observations provide insight into the common missteps that have drained public and private agencies of billions of dollars.
Charette’s observations are especially prescient as he listens deeply and critically to the software industry’s lame, self-defeating practice of repeating mistakes from the past. He points out that after 20 years of research showing otherwise, countless organizations continue to make the same mistakes. In the process, they’ve squandered three trillion dollars. We believe this chronic problem calls into question how seriously organizations are treating and urgently addressing the prevention of software failures.
In his 2005 book, Why Software Fails, Charette reviewed the causes of software failures. More importantly, he stressed how these failures are mostly foreseeable and preventable. His assertion rings true today, especially in the wake of marquee failures like the Canadian government’s Phoenix paycheck system. Launched in 2016, this system has been plagued by problems that persist nearly nine years later, affecting thousands of public servants.
Charette has seen many times for real how that kind of delusional thinking goes during and after major software disasters. As the new Special Projects Editor at IEEE Spectrum, he finds and helps tell the most important stories about how technology is changing our society. Most recently, he has uncovered significant findings regarding medical device recalls. As someone who has spent a lot of time working on AI policy, he knows that when software is used in critical applications—like healthcare—the stakes are much higher.
“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. Understanding why this attitude persists is not just an academic exercise; it has tremendous implications for business and society.” – Robert N. Charette
Charette’s view is pretty dire, particularly when you compare it to other critical utilities. He makes the provocative claim that software is the new electricity, pointing out that we would never tolerate rolling blackouts of our power supply in society. Yet, he observes a troubling acceptance of regular outages among major service providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and telecommunications companies.
“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 having AWS go down.” – Robert N. Charette
Charette’s worries reach into the healthcare arena, where failures of software are an issue with potentially fatal outcomes. He shares the demands of the high stakes world of medical device software development and the increased level of concern about what could go wrong if things fail.
“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,” – Robert N. Charette
As we as a society reckon with the costs of software failures, Charette’s thoughts can be viewed as a wake-up call. The need for a culture shift, both within IT departments and among corporate executives, is acute. Learning from why they keep failing again and again may be key to preventing the next big failure disaster.
