The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday • Hacker News Board

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#101

Post by zentiggr » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:49 PM UTC

alkonaut wrote: post #73

whatever_dude wrote: post #19

It's easy to see how this is bad, and I bet dozens of designers are now creating alternatives for their dribble and Twitter appreciation, but the problem is probably what led to this, not this specifically. I can see it: a contractor started with a link that triggers a push notification, then someone requested another link, then another, then it grew from there, never having the ability to stop and rethink this from…

Incremental design doesn’t excuse the guy adding thing #2 or thing #3 not paying attention to the whole. Nor does being a contractor excuse it. You don’t get a contract job to add some links to a page. You are contracted to modify it (regardless of what the buyer said he wanted) - and you are responsible for not making it dangerous. Even if that means you can’t take the job. Someone reviewed the spec for this. Someon…

And none of those someones were likely the same person, nor can it be proven that they ever communicated. Welcome to government contracting. When I was in my sea tour, my SO hated when I said "Designed by the lowest bidder, built by the lowest bidder, manned by the lowest bidder, for the lowest bidder."

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#102

Post by giarc » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:50 PM UTC

MBCook wrote: post #75

code_duck wrote: post #40

The WaPo reports it was from an interface with a drop-down menu. “Around 8:05 a.m., the Hawaii emergency employee initiated the internal test, according to a timeline released by the state. From a drop-down menu on a computer program, he saw two options: “Test missile alert” and “Missile alert.” He was supposed to choose the former; as much of the world now knows, he chose the latter, an initiation of a real-life mis…

I imagine that was a misunderstanding based on initial information. This was tweeted by the official department in Hawaii.

The tweet linked is by civilbeat.com, not an official account. Correct me if I'm wrong and some official account also sent out this photo.

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#103

Post by pure-awesome » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:50 PM UTC

syphilis2 wrote: post #87

I think I'm the only person who saw it and thought it was fine. It's a list of clearly labeled text links, very clear very simple. There are some changes that could be made to separate drills/tests from real events (or a different naming convention), but I'm surprised to see many people call a single page text list "terrible UI".

There are some great comments above on this. Two that stand out:

fredley 36 minutes ago If a system has critical safety components (using, or misusing the system could harm or kill people), all parts of it should be treated as such. This applies to hospital equipment, missile warning systems, cars, etc. Things like security and reliability rightly get a lot of attention, but UX is just as critical, as this event shows. There are plenty of case studies of poor UX on hospital equipment killing people[1]. When will people learn? https://medium.com/tragic-design/how-bad-ux-killed-jenny-ef9...

fredley 33 minutes ago This is not graphic design, it is UX. Graphic design is a component of UX, sometimes, but not here necessarily. Simply reordering the list, and giving it a hierarchy makes it much easier to see what to do: https://twitter.com/iamlucamilan/status/953201356545974272

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#104

Post by jacobush » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:50 PM UTC

0xTJ wrote: post #22

andrepd wrote: post #9

Yikes. Now consider this: this is the design for the missile warning system. It is possible, even likely, that some missile launch system has similar catastrophic UI. How we've not wiped ourselves off by accident so far is a miracle.

I'd disagree on the first point, but only because it seems that many launch systems use floppy drives. (The big ones)

There is room for error. “This floppy is the drill floppy, I’m sure.”

http://nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/issu...

1979 Nov 9 Computer Exercise Tape

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#105

Post by pure-awesome » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:51 PM UTC

syphilis2 wrote: post #87

I think I'm the only person who saw it and thought it was fine. It's a list of clearly labeled text links, very clear very simple. There are some changes that could be made to separate drills/tests from real events (or a different naming convention), but I'm surprised to see many people call a single page text list "terrible UI".

The thing is is that those two items look very very similar and and our eyes routinely scan or skip over words in in text. For example, how many repetetitions were there just in in this paragraph I just wrote?

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#106

Post by jim_dow_jones » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:55 PM UTC

giarc wrote: post #96

jim_dow_jones wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that's a pretty big coincidence. What would be the purpose of both states intentionally setting off false alarms?

>intentionally No one intentionally set off these alarms.

You are correct. There is no current reporting that claims these were set off intentionally. However, I'm curious if there could be a valid motive for both states to purposely set off these false alarms. It does seem like a pretty big coincidence that both states happen to get these false alarms in relatively short time frame. I have already seen conspiracy posts making claims about these alarms being purposely set off, but they never provide a motive. Just curious if anyone can think of a valid one.

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#107

Post by bovermyer » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

This is why things like Code for America are so important.

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#108

Post by syphilis2 » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:58 PM UTC

giarc wrote: post #94

syphilis2 wrote: post #87

I think I'm the only person who saw it and thought it was fine. It's a list of clearly labeled text links, very clear very simple. There are some changes that could be made to separate drills/tests from real events (or a different naming convention), but I'm surprised to see many people call a single page text list "terrible UI".

It's all about context. It might be fine if that's a list of your website bookmarks and if you click the wrong one you just click a different one. But when the consequences of clicking the wrong one are such high magnitude, it's bad design. And I don't even think it's up for debate. If the design of the page just made someone accidentally alert a whole state of an incoming missile, then it's bad.

I think someone will always be able to click the wrong link, especially if given the wrong information or confusing information "Give the message for PACOM CDW, ... Oh sorry you did the DRILL PACOM, right?" The larger problem was not having a quick system in place to redact an erroneous message.

But I've read a lot of suggestions like spreading items across multiple pages, adding passwords, or big warning colors and lines around the live options that are not just obfuscating/distracting/annoying but are bound to cause errors and open the door for even worse design.

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#109

Post by Y_Y » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:58 PM UTC

astura wrote: post #66

ghaff wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>maybe have to type a confirmation string Having to type out YES or some phrase is a fairly common "Are you really sure you want to do this??" sort of thing. I gather they're also looking at requiring a second person's confirmation which, if practical and very unlikely to make it impossible to send any message, seems reasonable as well.

Totally unscientific idea: Have PINs required for certain critical operations and post those PINs in multiple places around the facility. Each PIN is different for each operation. That way the user has to look up the PIN before sending out the "you're going to die" message.

And which Person would be Identified by such a Number?

Re: The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday

#110

Post by PKop » Tue, Jan 16, 2018, 2:59 PM UTC

jcranmer wrote: post #34

PKop wrote: post #5

Probably the worst UX design (considering the context and the stakes) I've ever seen. How could multiple people accept this as the interface? Put it on a separate page! Have an explicit confirmation dialog, or 3 of them. At the very least maybe it's own section with some padding... Ridiculous.

An ICBM will land about 30 minutes after it launches. At those kinds of timescales, every delay you put in somebody's path to issue the warning, even a few seconds, is going to be a cost measured in lives. How many people are you willing to kill to reduce the risk of a false alarm?

What aspect of this terrible UI strikes you as "easy to quickly find what you need"?

Lol