by Dwayne Phillips Never by surprised at what some persons consider to be “fun.” Consider this when managing risk. Recently, Microsoft put an Artificial Intelligence system called Tay on Twitter or something to learn how to chat. Some persons found it and taught it how to chat like a jerk. Microsoft wasn’t prepared for that […]
Entries Tagged as 'Risk'
Fun
April 14th, 2016 · No Comments
Tags: Excuses · Fun · People · Risk
The Folly of Stack Programming and Developing
April 7th, 2016 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips When you rely upon things from other people, you are sometimes greatly disappointed. This holds for programming computers. Are you a “full-stack developer?” Do you argue about what a full-stack developer is? Have you been asked, “Given this problem, what stack would you use?” Sigh. Since the pre-historic times of computer programming, […]
Tags: Analysis · Programming · Risk · Systems
The Risk of Efficiency
July 13th, 2015 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Often, greater efficiency means sharing resources that were previously not shared. When a shared resource breaks, everyone suffers. Twenty years ago I worked in a computing lab that suffered great improvements in efficiency. Yes, we improved and suffered at the same time. We began sharing resources. We had computers that were idle […]
Tags: Change · Management · Risk
Commitement, Control, and Risk
July 14th, 2014 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Simple yet oft-forgotten principles: commit to only what I can control. If I commit to things that are outside my control, I am assuming risk. I ran into the situation recently There are many times in my life when I am surprised to find people doing things that go against time-proven principles. […]
Tags: Risk
They Made Us Do That in College
September 2nd, 2013 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips There are practices that time has proven to be worthwhile. Someone in school drilled them into us. We vowed to avoid them as soon as school was out, but life eventually catches us. I have lost track of the number of times I have seen this on the job. We have a […]
Tags: Education · Excuses · Logic · People · Process · Risk
Effort and the Consequences of Failure
August 29th, 2013 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips How much oversight, process, testing, and any activity other than writing software should you do? The answer lies in the consequences of failure. Don’t let the quest for better destroy your software project. How much effort should you spend testing software? How much management oversight should software projects have? How much effort […]
Tags: Management · Programming · Risk
Agile Development and Risk
August 22nd, 2013 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Agile development can reduce risk, but not every kind of risk. Agile development does reduce risk. Agile is a form of the spiral development created by Barry Boehm (okay, scream now). Spiral was created to reduce risk and, if used properly (loaded words), it does reduce risk. So, let’s consider Agile: Agile […]
Tags: Agility · Management · Risk
Risk Managers
February 22nd, 2012 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips The foundation of risk management is asking, “What could possibly go wrong?” Some people, however, shrug when asked while others make a list of a million things. A recent chat: Person A: What do you know about risk management? Me: A “risk” is a problem that hasn’t occurred yet. Person A: What […]
Tags: Management · Risk
Accepting Less Than Perfect
November 17th, 2011 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Self-driving cars are almost here. They are safer than human drivers. They aren’t perfect, but they are better. Nevertheless, we might repeat our past and not employ less-than-perfect computer systems. Maybe, however, our younger generations may accept it this time. Google has been working on self-driving cars. Others have as well. Those […]
Tags: Risk · Systems · Technology
Familiar, Comfortable, and (Perhaps) Risk
October 5th, 2009 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips The familiar is comfortable. The comfort, however, sometimes hides risk and impending doom. Take care. I have been on the road for two weeks walking mostly through rural Alabama. This weekend I am in Tuscaloosa. This is a university town, so it differs from most of the places I have been. I […]
Tags: Change · Communication · Culture · Risk