Software engineering lessons from RCAs of greatest disasters

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 4:53 PM UTC

serjester wrote: post #70

RetroTechie wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of engineering (QC, processes etc), modern day software industry is worse than almost any other industry out there. :-( And no, just plain complexity or fast-moving environment, is a factor but not the issue. It's that steps are skipped which are not skipped in other branches of engineering (eg. continous improvement of processes, learning from mistakes & implementing those. In software land: same mistakes m…

If you're making the same mistakes over and over again I think that says more about your company than it does about the software industry. My first job was at a major automotive manufacturer. Implementing half the procedures they had would slow down any software company 10X - just look at the state of most car infotainment systems. If something is safety critical, obviously this makes sense but the reality is 85% of…

Post by zvmaz » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 4:54 PM UTC

RetroTechie wrote: post #63

hliyan wrote: post #11

I think the software industry itself has accumulated enough bugs over the past few decades. E.g. F-22 navigation system core dumps when crossing the international date line: https://medium.com/alfonsofuggetta-it/software-bug-halts-f-2... Loss of Mars probe due to metric-imperial conversion error I've a few of these myself (e.g. a misplaced decimal that made $12mil into $120mil), but sadly cannot devulge details.

In terms of engineering (QC, processes etc), modern day software industry is worse than almost any other industry out there. :-( And no, just plain complexity or fast-moving environment, is a factor but not the issue. It's that steps are skipped which are not skipped in other branches of engineering (eg. continous improvement of processes, learning from mistakes & implementing those. In software land: same mistakes m…

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

zvmaz wrote: post #72

LeonenTheDK wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why I support "engineer" being a protected term, like Doctor. It should tell you that a certain level of training and qualification has been met, to the point that the engineer is responsible and accountable for the work they do and sign off on. Especially for things that affect safety. Many software engineers these days are often flying by the seat of their pants, moving quickly and breaking things.…

Are all "engineers" trained on human error, safety principles, and the like? The failures described in the article are precisely not software failures.

Post by freeopinion » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 4:59 PM UTC

LeonenTheDK wrote: post #68

fredley wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In any other field of engineering, the engineers are all trained and qualified. In software 'engineering', not so much.

This is exactly why I support "engineer" being a protected term, like Doctor. It should tell you that a certain level of training and qualification has been met, to the point that the engineer is responsible and accountable for the work they do and sign off on. Especially for things that affect safety. Many software engineers these days are often flying by the seat of their pants, moving quickly and breaking things.…

Post by talldatethrow » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 5:06 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #76

zvmaz wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In terms of engineering (QC, processes etc), modern day software industry is worse than almost any other industry out there. :-( How do you know that?

Experience?