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The P28 virtual fence: Borderline success or virtual vaporware?
Submitted by Erik Petersen on Wed, 05/03/2008 - 07:49. design & development | perspectives | reliability testingI’ve already noted some of the issues around the virtual fence here. In May 2006, George W. Bush called it “the most technologically advanced border-security initiative in American history”. In a flash of originality, the 28 mile virtual fence in Arizona was called Project 28, or P28 in Chertoff-speak. Micheal Chertoff has now accepted the fence system, on the basis that “all of the defects” in the prototype project were either “cured” or “immaterial.” He also said “In some form or fashion, technology is going to be virtually every place on the border, but it’s not necessarily going to be in the configuration of P28,” The chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Representative Bennie Thompson, sees it differently, “The poorly structured contract that prevented the line Border Patrol agents from pointing out obvious flaws and caused an overreliance on contractors has resulted in a system that has been described as providing ‘marginal’ functionality at best,” I wonder if he was tempted to say the Border fence had borderline functionality. [grin]
The technology stack on top of each tower looks impressive . The project is anything but impressive , with many of the issues typical in the IT industry: badly underestimated effort, not involving users, and not enough testing, While there was evidently a push for reuse of existing systems and components, it caused many difficulties: trying to base the system around a law enforcement dispatch system (!) that couldn't scale, trying to use off-the-shelf components that weren't designed to integrate, and a lack of standards for the sensors. The builder of the system, Boeing, has only taken 3/4s of the $20 million fee, granted a $2 million credit, and apparently paid $40 million to get this far on a project that will now finish in 2011, not the end of this year (which was already a year and a half past the original schedule). That will only be phase one!
Elephant In The Room - Sanitized, Apolitical Fairytale Version
Submitted by jason@parlezuml.com (Jason Gorman) on Wed, 05/03/2008 - 10:00.One of the problems with being a consultant, and trying to help organisations change for the better, is that - bet your bottom dollar - the key barriers to change will sit with the people who hired you in the first place.
Management are the root of 99.9% of obstacles to organisational excellence. Find a problem, pull the string and trace it back to its root cause and you'll normally find a manager sitting at the other end pulling in the opposite direction.
Management are the root of 99.9% of obstacles to organisational excellence. Find a problem, pull the string and trace it back to its root cause and you'll normally find a manager sitting at the other end pulling in the opposite direction.
What Tests Belong in the BVTs?
Submitted by SteveRowe on Wed, 05/03/2008 - 17:31.BVTs or Build Verification Tests are standard Microsoft parlance for the tests we run every day to ensure that we didn't break anything important with our checkins the day before. I've previously written about the importance of keeping them clean. Within the range of tests that consistently pass, which ones should be in the BVT? BVT test failures should be something you're willing to act on immediately. In other words, the failures must be important. Based on that, here are some criteria:
Tsung 1.2.2 is released
Submitted by Opensourcetesting.org - latest news on Wed, 05/03/2008 - 18:30.Tsung is a distributed load testing tool.
This version adds new features, such as SMP and kernel polling support and erlang R12B compatibility. The major plugins, such as the XMPP plugin, were improved. Several bugs were fixed.
Embracing change
Submitted by Brian Marick on Wed, 05/03/2008 - 22:28.Embracing Agile had me make some big changes, some fundamental changes. As a programmer, my role model changed from the lone genius with OCD to a gregarious social animal (but still hoping for just a touch of OCD). As a tester, I stopped thinking of myself as a dispassionate judge and began to consider myself [...]
New Boston Skatepark - Beyond Psyched
Submitted by Corey Goldberg on Wed, 05/03/2008 - 22:51.The Charles River Skatepark is going to be built right down the street from my apartment. I will definitely be a regular.
How insane is this setup?!
Pylot - Web Performance Tool - 0.2 Beta Release
Submitted by Corey Goldberg on Wed, 05/03/2008 - 23:10.International consultant
Submitted by Danny Faught on Thu, 06/03/2008 - 03:25.What is an “international consultant?” Someone willing to travel to help clients in any country? If that’s the case, I’ve been an international consultant since I got my passport shortly after opening my consulting practice, just in case. But that doesn’t seem sufficient for the title “international consultant.” How about having clients in at least [...]
Maps and Plans
Submitted by noreply@blogger.com (Michael) on Thu, 06/03/2008 - 06:36.Over the last few months, I've been wrestling with a book called Sensemaking in Organizations, by Karl Weick. I've got bogged down in it from time to time, but it's fascinating. Weick describes sensemaking as having seven properties:
Heuristic: Tenets vs. tenants
Submitted by noreply@blogger.com (Michael) on Thu, 06/03/2008 - 06:46.Here's a heuristic: when someone is describing (or, especially, dissing) some practice or methodology, don't bother taking them seriously unless they know the difference between tenants and tenets. Examples abound.