The Software Debacle

The above is a diagram of the best way to build software vs the way HealthCare.gov was actually done. Note that the requirements have yet to be fully defined (don’t believe what the chart says in this case – I assume it was prettied up for consumption by government managers).

There is no way they can finish this turkey. Ever.

The canonical book on the subject of software development:

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering – Or Why Adding Bodies To A Late Project Makes The Project Later

H/T Business Insider

Update: 0246z 20 November 2013

There is more to worry about.

Cyber security experts recommend shutting down Obamacare site

President Barack Obama’s HealthCare.gov site is riddled with security flaws that put user data of millions of people at risk and it should be shut down until fixed, several technology experts warned lawmakers on Tuesday.

The testimony at a congressional hearing could increase concerns among many Americans about Obama’s healthcare overhaul, popularly known as Obamacare. Opinion polls show the botched rollout of the online marketplace for health insurance policies has hurt the popularity of the effort.

The website collects personal data such as names, birth dates, social security numbers, email addresses and other information that criminals could use for a variety of scams.

I particularly liked the phrase “hurt the popularity of the effort“. But the news for ObamaCare(less) is not all bad.

… a Reuters survey found that opposition to ObamaCare ticked up just three percentage points, to 59 percent, since September.

So 59% opposition to the law is good news? I wonder what bad news would look like.

Further update:

There is no way you can pay for Obamacare. The www site has no way to accept money.

The information-technology systems of Obamacare are still anywhere from 30 to 70 percent unfinished, an administration official testified today.

Admittedly, the answer from Henry Chao, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services deputy chief information officer, in a House hearing today isn’t really clear. At one point he seems to indicate 30 to 40 percent of the information-technology system supporting the Obamacare exchanges is unfinished; at another point it sounds more like he’s saying 60 to 70 percent.

So they are not clear on the metrics. Well that is often the case. I have worked on projects where the final 1% took as much time as the initial 99% of the project. Sometimes you run into trouble. But it gets better (or worse depending on your point of view).

Gardner: “But the entire system is 60 to 70 percent away from being complete?”

Chao: “There’s the back-office systems, the accounting systems, the payment systems, they still need be built.”

So even if you sign up you don’t have insurance because they can’t accept your money.

I believe I said above that the system would never get completed. I think “never” is far too optimistic.