Slashdot Mirror
Boston's Big Dig Delayed Because of Programmers?
dalewj writes "This article in the
Boston Globe explains that Boston's Big Dig will be ready to open on time, if the software developers and cable layers can get their act together." Turns out honeywell's software isn't quite ready.
I thought the Big Dig was supposed to go on forever.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
I thought the software was working fine? I mean, that little guy on the screen is going to town with that shovel...
OH, "Big Dig", I thought you said "Dig Dug".
Nevermind.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
Remember the Denver airport opening delays because of the baggage system bugs?
Larry Bossidy, the just-retired CEO of Honeywell, one of the Dig contractors that may contribute to delayed openings of the tunnel sections, is in town tomorrow to give a speech at the Marriott Long Wharf to promote his new book. The title? Funny you should ask. It's called "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done."
Jesus saves souls and redeems them for valuable cash prizes
I know this isn't exactly about the article (software related), but I saw a television program on Discovery or TLC or something recently about the Big Dig, which described the ventilation system would make the air INSIDE the tunnels CLEANER than the air OUTSIDE!
1. Sell out your construction company to an Irish mafia project
2. Chill out for about 20 years. Take your time doing anything. Make sure you hugely overstep your price quote.
3. PROFIT !!
I-93. Where else can you park in downtown Boston for free?
Building more roads to combat traffic congestion is like buying a bigger belt to combat obesity.
They'll have to finish the dig by candle-light...oh yeah it's a tunnel Absence of the Sun shouldn't affect it. SHOULDN'T...
no, it's not behind schedule. The original plans were for 1994, but those got scrapped as the project got bigger and they realized exactly how long it would take
:o)
So why don't they just ask the geeks how long the software will be, and then push it back again?
The tunnels are also able to withstand heavy conventional bombing.
Clearly, this is a design claim that needs to be tested. I'll call the military.
Get back to work, you.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Kinda chaps your quiddick, don't it?
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
I've always thought of it as "our local answer to corn subsidies."
At least we're not being paid NOT to build a highway.
But I didn't know the hole was in Boston.
paintball
Forgive me if I misquote:
* It's not our fault, it's the previous contractor's.
* It's not our fault, it's management.
* It's not our fault, it's the client.
* It's not our fault, the requirement are fuzzy.
* It's not our fault, it's the politics.
Well, bad news, bucko: Welcome to the software industry. You've just used up your quota of excuses. You cannot bitch about a project until the next fical year.
rOD.
Rod Begbie done this, and he's not
The problem is not the programmers. Its the **** software we were given to work with.
Oh come on, four-star software sounds pretty good to me. You're scoring it on a five-star scale, right?
How long have you been doing corperate software?
You make the polling configurable as suggested by the requirements - of course the only option you can choose when configuring is... 3 seconds!
Then when they ask to add to the range, you note that the entire system was built around requirement (1), and that you'll need one year to add any other options.
Unless of course for brevity you've left out that the operator had to be able to change the polling to a certain range of values. Then you're toast.
Seriously though, good luck to all of you - I've been in projects with requirements like that before.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Further invesitgation into software delays in Boston's Big Dig project traced the source of the problem to an internet technical news site, Slashdot.org.
A survey of the projects network logs showed that queries to the Slashdot website occured at an average interval of 37 seconds, or 3 minutes and 5 seconds per user assigned to the project.
Project spokesmen indicated that a planned installation of software to curb employee access to the website has been delayed due to lack of available programmers to do the installation.
paintball