The Invisible DBA and Other Stories

摘要

Wrangling with customers who cling to a haunted past? Finding out that some requirements aren't soft—the hard way? Stuck on a product development team that functions more like a self-hating hydra than a well-oiled machine? We've got 'em, plus more. Every year, there are more mishaps to report. Take the Minneapolis HMO that authorized free drugs in 2004 for nearly 30,000 retirees due to a programming error, or the Hewlett-Packard internal order-tracking software project that cost the company so much that several executives were fired. Not to mention the FAA's communications system that, along with the backup designed to prevent such problems, unexpectedly shut down because scheduled maintenance had been missed, causing delayed flights in Southern California. Rather than comb through Associated Press reports, however, we prefer to turn to our readers for their own brushes with failure. Let the celebration begin!