Risks Digest
I subscribe to and scan the risks digest every once in a while. Some of the stories make me love and hate technology. Here are 3 that I found particularly interesting this week.
This article Computerized ticketing reduces ticket writing raises interesting points for people who work on software systems that are supposed to “make life easier”
“The aggravation of writing reports runs deep among officers on the street. In particular, many said, the new system, called I/LEADS, requires them to fill in many different screens, rather than writing on one or two sheets of paper, and when I/LEADS finds an error, officers said, it doesn’t tell where in the report the error is. Police commanders and information technology specialists said they are listening to the officers’ complaints and adjusting. They have extended the life of a 24-hour help desk, and commanders have reduced the number of incidents that require a report to be filed.”
So let’s analyze
- The software is frustrating everyone using it (bad cell connections, computer freezes , It doesn’t tell you where the error is)
- It’s a danger to the people doing their jobs (evidenced in the article – not in the quotes above)
- It’s causing the police department lost revenue
- Cops are “looking the other way” when minor infractions are committed
How the failures of the system are described
- Aggravation: ‘One simple mistake causes you to pull your hair out,’ one officer said. ‘You have to search to fix it. It takes a half-hour.’
- Worry: “said he was worried about his officers because “they are so concerned with data entry, and less and less patrol services are being provided”
#This is the important part for everyone who develops software.#
Notice how emotions are used to describe the failures of the system? Aggravation, Worry, Fear. It reminds me of something my friend, Michael Bolton, talks about in his presentation on Emotions and Oracles
Let’s look at the solutions presented
- Extended help desk hours (which someone is paying for)
- Reduce the type of incidents requiring a report to filed
- Add printers
Scratch Head Time
Notice there was no mention about actually resolving the problems? Someone somewhere in some company (probably one who stands to profit) suggested that increasing the help desk hours would help solve the problem. (Ok – I’m assuming profit is why they would increase the support hours.) For some reason the article leads me to believe that adding more layers between the end user and developer is going to fix the system.
Here’s a few ideas for a quicker solution
- The system has failed. Take it out and do a better roll out. Yes, egos will be hurt, people will be fired so others can save face.
- Have one of the developers ride around in the squad car and observe the officers actually using the software. Just for fun put the product manager in another car. Let them feel the frustration of data entry and also feel the fear as they sit on the side of the street wondering if someone is going to come up to the squad car with a gun.
- Look at your existing system before implementing something new. If it’s not worth writing a report with the new software system why was it worth it when it was paper based?
I suspect that the officials at the Fairfax county police department have a bigger problem on their hands than they know of. Let’s not get into adding printers when people are frustrated and about data entry and worried about their safety
I wonder about the development shop (not mentioned in the article) that created the system claims. Are they waterfall or agile? What king of automation do they have? What kind of testing do they do? That would make a good case study for anyone who knows/has connections with the company who built the software.
As a thought exercise if you worked for google maps – how would you test the maps? Would this have even entered your thought process?
Woman who ‘didn’t know how to look both ways before crossing street’ sues Google for bad directions
This story is extremely sad. It makes me thankful that I do not work on medical software. It’s a perfect example of “Yes you CAN add software/hardware but SHOULD you?”
