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Ask Slashdot: How Much Did Your Biggest Tech Mistake Cost?
NotQuiteReal writes: What is the most expensive piece of hardware you broke (I fried a $2500 disk drive once, back when 400MB was $2500) or what software bug did you let slip that caused damage? (No comment on the details — but about $20K cost to a client.) Did you lose your job over it? If you worked on the Mars probe that crashed, please try not to be the First Post, that would scare off too many people!
Definitely partially my fault for not disabling the cron job,
Or pulling the network cable. You have to plan for idiots, because there will be idiots. And odds are, they will outrank you.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
As with most mistakes, it is part of a system that is faulty and awaiting one simple mistake to escalate.
Any one human can make a mistake. However a good system should have built in methods to protect against this.
Why wasn't their a backup system, why didn't it have have a fail over network/power, why wasn't there proper labeling.
Chances are there was a culture of trying to save money: paying for a redundant system cost twice as much, or more. Having those network guys spend hours cleaning up and reorganizing where they can be working on more profit driven activities.
They are too focused on being agile and quick, that they will let little things slip.
For 99% of the failures and mistakes that happen it is the fault of the system, and not of the person who happened to make mistakes.
Organizations need to prioritize these methods and follow to make sure they are worked. Not just write them down, post them on some intranet and blame people for not following them if it wasn't followed. It needs the full organization to make sure checks are in place.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
How many people will refrain from posting because the statute of limitations hasn't run out yet?