Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
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Re: Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
#2Or 'agile' lead by a non-engineer.
Getting tired of 'agile' or 'XP' getting the blame when in reality they are half-assed versions of some scrum masters cook up.
Re: Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
#3Why don't we take the brilliant hackers and programmers at the NSA and task them to fix and re-build the ACA exchange system?
Building a database to track the communications of ever single person in the US and ever foreigner they talk to? Piece of cake.
Building a database to track the health insurance policies for a subset of Americans? Over budget, behind schedule, still doesn't really work yet.
Priorities.
Re: Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
#4Why don't we take the brilliant hackers and programmers at the NSA and task them to fix and re-build the ACA exchange system? Building a database to track the communications of ever single person in the US and ever foreigner they talk to? Piece of cake. Building a database to track the health insurance policies for a subset of Americans? Over budget, behind schedule, still doesn't really work yet. Priorities.
Those are two things that don't have anything to do with each other. You seem to think that every single web service and database works the exact same way.
Re: Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
#5Agile is not some magic bullet that guarantees success. To say that something succeeded or failed because of some particular method of project management is is simply absurd.
Re: Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
#6No process can compensate for an unsufficiently qualified/talented team.
Re: Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
#7Why don't we take the brilliant hackers and programmers at the NSA and task them to fix and re-build the ACA exchange system? Building a database to track the communications of ever single person in the US and ever foreigner they talk to? Piece of cake. Building a database to track the health insurance policies for a subset of Americans? Over budget, behind schedule, still doesn't really work yet. Priorities.
Having actually worked with NSA programmers, I can tell you that while they tend to be absolutely brilliant, that doesn't necessarily make them any better at making things "easy to use", "intuitive" or even necessarily "good".
When it comes to algorithm design, reverse engineering, or crypto, I know exactly who to call when I need help. When it comes to a layout that works, or in many cases, even just coding up some fairly simple HTML with CSS, my NSA buddies aren't in the top 50 of people I'd call.
Yes, they're brilliant. The best of them though, produce websites (if they're capable of coding on the web) that look more like stallman.org than anything like healthcare.org.
Re: Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
#8Healthcare.gov was not built in an agile manner. Sure, some items that are labeled as artifacts of agile-based software development, i.e. user stories, may have been utilized, but that doesn't make for an agile process. Heck, even an agile process doesn't make one agile.
To say it failed "despite agile practices" misses the mark. It's like blaming a roof for leaking despite the use of hammers. Process is a tool, and if used properly, it may be a solution. But pixie dust, it is not.
Re: Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
#9Why don't we take the brilliant hackers and programmers at the NSA and task them to fix and re-build the ACA exchange system? Building a database to track the communications of ever single person in the US and ever foreigner they talk to? Piece of cake. Building a database to track the health insurance policies for a subset of Americans? Over budget, behind schedule, still doesn't really work yet. Priorities.
They're too busy stealing your emails, man. They don't have time to spend helping anyone.
Re: Healthcare.gov failed despite agile practices
#10Reacting mostly to the link-baity title..
Corporations act like using the word 'Agile' instantly brings the benefits of flexible planning and proper management to a team.
Most people never really interact with a proper agile process - its kind of a unicorn in the development world.
The failure is not necessarily the process but the managers not understanding that it isn't a silver bullet. It is often used as an excuse to delay requirements gathering or understanding of requested features from stakeholders. This leads to churn and failure.