6 ms·

Hawaii missile alert: How one employee ‘pushed the wrong button’

wiseleo 9y ago
From the article, the employee chose the wrong item from the "drop down menu". That is just bad UX. Such interfaces should have a confirmation like "You are about to send a REAL alert to millions of cell phones. Please type ENDOFTHEWORLD in ALL CAPS to confirm". There is no reason to have this as a drop down menu where a slip of a mouse can lead to a false alarm.
- newman8r 9y ago
  and it's compounded by the perplexing inability to immediately issue a correction
- TillE 9y ago
  Would be better to have the test interface on a completely different screen, perhaps with a different background color. You really should never need to access both functions at the same time.
  - cratermoon 9y ago
    Yes! Why is the action to run a routine test right next to the action to start a consequential chain of events?
- borplk 9y ago
  I thought one of those "red button under protective cover" would be the best?
tritium 9y ago
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 missile alert. Oh man, it just blows my mind to hear things like this still operating throughout the world, after dealing for so long with high availability systems built to be super redundant, and insulated with compliance software and handing off highly documented procedures to dedicated teams operating change-control plans during graveyard shifts to minimize downtime.
thiagocsf 9y ago
The article also says there IS a confirmation dialog. And it says, in the future, someone else will be required to confirm.
- rovek 9y ago
  An important lesson in "Don't teach your users to ignore confirmation dialogs" that all designers need to learn or teach their clients/POs.
  - rando444 9y ago
    It could also just be a poorly designed dialog, like something that just says "are you sure?" .. instead of actually stating to the user what they are confirming.
  - cratermoon 9y ago
    It's far too late for that. Users never read dialog boxes and still don't. If they do, they don't understand them and click the wrong that. c.f. Raskin, Jef (2000). The Humane Interface.
- ratmice 9y ago
  I wouldn't involve a 2nd person, A sealed envelope labeled "In case of actual or impending catastrophe" should suffice. Sending the alert would require a string of characters inside the envelope, Envelope should also contain the instructions for initiating the alert, in case the person who opens the envelope is not familiar with the software for sending the alert. The important UX part is that the person has to get up out of their chair and open a very serious looking envelope.
  - MarkMc 9y ago
    The problem is that the test procedure is then too far removed from the 'real emergency' procedure. I can envision a situation where the test works fine for 20 years, then in a real emergency the envelope cannot be found or the software says the envelope code is invalid.
ninegunpi 9y ago
I liked the version where Hawaii government was replaced by marionettes under pressure of nuclear attack, the missile exploded in the air (or was fake from the very beginning) and the new government refuted that it was a real message to keep the conspiracy undercover. Most errors are boring mistakes, tho.
jstewartmobile 9y ago
Rather than sloppy UX, this looks more like cover for an evacuation due to military snafu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/south-dakota-s-secret-nuclear-missile-accident-revealed/article_92b6722d-9cd5-5551-8831-f61964da70b2.html http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/south-dakota-s-secret...
- SyneRyder 9y ago
  The South Dakota 1964 incident sounds a lot like the story This American Life recently ran, "Human Error In Volatile Situations". Except it turns out that episode is about an incident in Arkansas in 1980 (but both were primarily caused by using incorrect tools). [1] On a side note, the Rapid City Journal supports ad-removal passes via Google Contributor [2] (ie for 1c they'll remove all the ads on the page). So if you normally use an ad blocker, you might want to sign up and give them a penny. [1] https://www.thisamericanlife.org/634/human-error-in-volatile-situations https://www.thisamericanlife.org/634/human-error-in-volatile... [2] https://contributor.google.com/ https://contributor.google.com/
cratermoon 9y ago
"new regulations require telecom companies to offer a testing system for local and state alert originators, but because of lobbying by Verizon and CTIA (a wireless telecom trade group), this specific regulation does not go into effect until March 2019, 30 months after the regulations were adopted." https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kznxde/hawaii-ballistic-missile-warning-no-testing-system https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kznxde/hawaii-bal...

From the article, the employee chose the wrong item from the "drop down menu". That is just bad UX. Such interfaces should have a confirmation like "You are about to send a REAL alert to millions of cell phones. Please type ENDOFTHEWORLD in ALL CAPS to confirm". There is no reason to have this as a drop down menu where a slip of a mouse can lead to a false alarm.

newman8r 9y ago
and it's compounded by the perplexing inability to immediately issue a correction
TillE 9y ago
Would be better to have the test interface on a completely different screen, perhaps with a different background color. You really should never need to access both functions at the same time.
- cratermoon 9y ago
  Yes! Why is the action to run a routine test right next to the action to start a consequential chain of events?
borplk 9y ago
I thought one of those "red button under protective cover" would be the best?

tritium 9y ago

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 missile alert. Oh man, it just blows my mind to hear things like this still operating throughout the world, after dealing for so long with high availability systems built to be super redundant, and insulated with compliance software and handing off highly documented procedures to dedicated teams operating change-control plans during graveyard shifts to minimize downtime.

thiagocsf 9y ago

The article also says there IS a confirmation dialog. And it says, in the future, someone else will be required to confirm.

rovek 9y ago
An important lesson in "Don't teach your users to ignore confirmation dialogs" that all designers need to learn or teach their clients/POs.
- rando444 9y ago
  It could also just be a poorly designed dialog, like something that just says "are you sure?" .. instead of actually stating to the user what they are confirming.
- cratermoon 9y ago
  It's far too late for that. Users never read dialog boxes and still don't. If they do, they don't understand them and click the wrong that. c.f. Raskin, Jef (2000). The Humane Interface.
ratmice 9y ago
I wouldn't involve a 2nd person, A sealed envelope labeled "In case of actual or impending catastrophe" should suffice. Sending the alert would require a string of characters inside the envelope, Envelope should also contain the instructions for initiating the alert, in case the person who opens the envelope is not familiar with the software for sending the alert. The important UX part is that the person has to get up out of their chair and open a very serious looking envelope.
- MarkMc 9y ago
  The problem is that the test procedure is then too far removed from the 'real emergency' procedure. I can envision a situation where the test works fine for 20 years, then in a real emergency the envelope cannot be found or the software says the envelope code is invalid.

ninegunpi 9y ago

I liked the version where Hawaii government was replaced by marionettes under pressure of nuclear attack, the missile exploded in the air (or was fake from the very beginning) and the new government refuted that it was a real message to keep the conspiracy undercover. Most errors are boring mistakes, tho.

jstewartmobile 9y ago

Rather than sloppy UX, this looks more like cover for an evacuation due to military snafu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/south-dakota-s-secret-nuclear-missile-accident-revealed/article_92b6722d-9cd5-5551-8831-f61964da70b2.html http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/south-dakota-s-secret...

SyneRyder 9y ago
The South Dakota 1964 incident sounds a lot like the story This American Life recently ran, "Human Error In Volatile Situations". Except it turns out that episode is about an incident in Arkansas in 1980 (but both were primarily caused by using incorrect tools). [1] On a side note, the Rapid City Journal supports ad-removal passes via Google Contributor [2] (ie for 1c they'll remove all the ads on the page). So if you normally use an ad blocker, you might want to sign up and give them a penny. [1] https://www.thisamericanlife.org/634/human-error-in-volatile-situations https://www.thisamericanlife.org/634/human-error-in-volatile... [2] https://contributor.google.com/ https://contributor.google.com/

cratermoon 9y ago

"new regulations require telecom companies to offer a testing system for local and state alert originators, but because of lobbying by Verizon and CTIA (a wireless telecom trade group), this specific regulation does not go into effect until March 2019, 30 months after the regulations were adopted." https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kznxde/hawaii-ballistic-missile-warning-no-testing-system https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kznxde/hawaii-bal...