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Obamacare and Middle-Wheel-Wheelbarrows

Posted by timothy on from the well-here's-where-your-problem-is dept.

davecb writes "The Obamacare sign-up site was a classic example of managers saying 'not invented here' and doing everything wrong, as described in Poul-Henning Kamp's Center Wheel for Success, at ACM Queue." It's not just a knock on the health-care finance site, though: "We are quick to dismiss these types of failures as politicians asking for the wrong systems and incompetent and/or greedy companies being happy to oblige. While that may be part of the explanation, it is hardly sufficient. ... [New technologies] allow us to make much bigger projects, but the actual success/failure rate seems to be pretty much the same."

3 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Article is +1 by noh8rz10 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most articles linked to on slash dot aren't very interesting or are pushing something, but this article was interesting and a good use of my time . +1

  2. More of a government contracting issue by tpstigers · · Score: 4, Informative

    This isn't the only place we've seen this. The Pentagon and FEMA have been up to their necks in it for years. The process of getting government contracts is so bizarre and complicated that companies have evolved with "getting government contracts" as their only business model. So the companies that actually get the contracts are the companies that are good at getting government contracts (because they focus so much of their resources on the process), NOT companies that are good at delivering what the contracts specify. This is a natural by-product of bureaucracy.

  3. Re:Why not call it its actual name? by haruchai · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's what Obama himself said about that - "And once it's working really well, I guarantee you, they'll not call it Obamacare. Here's a prediction for you - a few years from now, when people are using this to get coverage, everybody's feeling pretty good about all the choices & competition that they've got, there are going to be a whole bunch of folks saying "I always thought this provision was excellent, I voted for that thing".
    You watch, it will not be called Obamacare," -

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aN2iuIhcx0

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body