Our incompetent government

When I see a failed IT project courtesy of our floundering government, It hurts me right in the gut. Especially one that is going to cost taxpayers $104 million.

In IT projects, communication, up, down and side to side is really freakin' important. If a grunt code-monkey finds a problem, said grunt code-monkey needs to be able to tell the lead code-monkey without fear of getting his head chopped off. The schedule needs to be modified so that the problem can be fixed, and if it's a big problem, the client needs to be notified so they know what to expect.

By 2004, the report found, the FBI had identified 400 problems with
early versions of the troubled software -- but never told the contractor.
The bureau also went ahead with a $17 million testing program last
December, even though it was clear by then that the software would have
to be scrapped, according to the review.

Research is really important too. Research that helps you chose the best solution. Getting the correct information is key. If you can solve the problem with off-the-shelf software and it's affordable, why the heck would you want to spend millions on custom development?

FBI officials said last week that the bureau has undertaken a broad
and rapid restructuring that will solve many of the problems outlined in
the report. They also said that a new program -- code-named Sentinel --
will rely on off-the-shelf software rather than the kind of custom
approach that contributed to many of the problems with VCF.

Then when you throw petty politics into the mix, well, you can guess what happens.

Several officials interviewed by the House staff questioned the decision
to proceed with the expensive pilot test of a product that was headed for
the trash. "On no planet I know does it make sense" to spend $17 million on
such an effort, one official said. Others contended that "it was done for
political reasons because the FBI believed it had to deliver something,"

The concepts are really quite simple and intuitive. Unless you are really stupid. Like our government.

Just like this failed software project, Bush and company have failed at all kinds of things because of lack of research, poor communications and petty politics. The whole Iraq war we went to with failed intelligence. If I were a Senator that voted for the war or a parent who lost a child in the war, I would be fightin' mad about their incompetence. I'm neither a Senator or a parent and I'm still livid.

What they are doing with our tax dollars and our troops shows just what a bevy of bungling blockheads they are. Their lack or respect for other cultures and human life in other countries is barbaric. And the fact that we are just in the fifth month of his second term freaks me out. What's going to happen next? How many more people will die because of these fools?