notes and views on crm, social media, and the human side of information technology

Mission Critical, Really?

A JAS Gripen crashed in Sweden this weekend. The Czech Air Force has several of these, and the generals have grounded those used for training until the manufacturer explains the reasons for the crash. Supposedly it’s a “software thing”, quoting an unnamed pilot who’s admitted as much on tv.

Whether it was the plane’s software that caused the pilot to be ejected from the plane and the subsequent crash is subject to investigation. If it was, I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the poor guy responsible for that particular piece of code… but that’s beside the point.

For those of us who have been embedded in the “mission critical” world of banking & telco IT, it’s a much-needed reminder of “mission critical” can sometimes mean. And that there’s IT beyond the enterprise, that it takes brains much sharper than ours, and that even there, mistakes happen - and costly they are!

Additional reading

April 23, 2007 | Filed Under Software delivery 

comments

Leave a Reply