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Pretty much all government IT projects have ill-defined requirements because GS-15s and Field Grade Military Officers are like little kids. They change their mi
by phaus 12y ago
Pretty much all government IT projects have ill-defined requirements because GS-15s and Field Grade Military Officers are like little kids. They change their minds frequently and they are so used to having their way that they simply won't take "no" for an answer. You can't explain to them that it will ruin a project because the overwhelming majority of them go through life thinking that they know everyone else's job better than they do. Because of this a typical government IT project will keep having requirements added until the last day of the contract.
You are right, the development team never had a real chance at achieving success.
- AnimalMuppet 12y agoIt's worse than that. It's not just GS-15s. It starts with Congress. Congress writes the bills that somebody (higher than GS15s?) turn into implementing regulations that GS-15s turn into program requirements. If Congress writes bills that are simple, clear, and short, then you have a chance at simple implementing regulations and therefore simple program requirements (not certainty, but a chance). But if Congress writes convoluted, lengthy crap, it's almost impossible to write a program that will correctly implement it.
- phaus 12y ago>higher than GS15s? Yeah, I forgot to mention Congress and the SES(the higher than GS-15) guys. Yet, even when there is a simple set of program requirements, the guys I already mentioned are going to keep adding shit on until the very end. If you give a high-ranking government employee authority over an IT project, they start imagining that they are Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Johnny Ive, Steve Jobs, and Leonardo DaVinci all rolled into one. Then bad things happen.
- cratermoon 12y agoAnd... Congress can change the law halfway through the project and then what? That's the ultimate requirements change, and no way to push back.