Goings on in Washington, DC - the Healthcare Website problem

[DJlaysitup]

Granted this maybe should go in "Politics and Religion" but I wanted to look at it from more of an a-political outlook - original contractors vs the "Alpha Team".

Now we all know that the Healthcare website is major flop and that it is a serious situation - both for potential enrollees and for the politicians involved...but think about what is happening at the project level. You likely have a bunch of sotware programmers who have been working their butts off for a couple years - trying their best to get this right. More than likely they did a decent job but their efforts were sabotaged by late changes in project specifications, poor coordination by our government, and too little time for testing.

Now that it didn't work - they are bringing in the "Alpha Team" (A-T) of hero experts. But guess what? The A-T can't just walk in the door like Clint Eastwood in a movie and fix the thing in no-time flat. In truth they have to coordinate with (and to some degree even be trained by) the "grunt workers" who have been on the project all along.

Human nature being what it is (and I know - I'm a human)...there may just be a little friction. It reminds me of a scene from an old favorite movie of mine (Funny Farm)...the guy in the truck is the A-Team leader .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD8oGkTYpwc

[Admin]

These things happen and truthfully there's no way they could have done the level of regression testing needed to see how this website would handle millions of people hitting the site at once. Honestly I can't even imagine the level of stress the programmers were/are under with this website. I freak out around here when I push a new update to this site and it does't get a tenth of a percent of the amount of traffic that the ACA website got.

[Admin]

Just a note for anyone who wants this topic to remain in the lounge, please don't turn this into a political discussion.

[DJlaysitup]

These things happen and truthfully there's no way they could have done the level of regression testing needed to see how this website would handle millions of people hitting the site at once. Honestly I can't even imagine the level of stress the programmers were/are under with this website. I freak out around here when I push a new update to this site and it does't get a tenth of a percent of the amount of traffic that the ACA website got.

Another thing I would say about this "rollout"...I have worked for the government for awhile and twice in the last 10 years we have switched contracting/grants management IT systems. Both times we have run into serious problems...but...in those cases it was a "work site"...where everybody HAD to be invested (even though we all b!tched) because we needed it to accomplish our jobs. So...with a combination of fixes and workarounds we always got it done - and over time the system actually started working pretty good.

The Healthcare site is a "Consumer site"...there is no investment from the consumer side to work with IT pros to make fixes and do workarounds...it either works or it doesn't...and if it doesn't there is likely very little constructive feedback.

[macdaddy]

I'm also in the software biz and from my experience some of the worst contract firms for developing are also some of the biggest. I'm not saying that's the case here because i haven't looked at it but just because they got the contract doesn't mean they really knew what they were doing.

In their defense, one of the big problems was all the federal databases they have to hit to verify all kind of stuff about the applicant. I do think there are big guns who have experience turning these things around pretty quickly. Just hope that's who they've gotten.

[HawkItus]

It's a real headache. When we roll out new software our app guy always says "we've accounted for everything, but the unaccountable" on our release notes. There is no way to account for everything and that includes volume. But, many of the errors like the drop down menus etc. are stuff high school kids could correct.

[DJlaysitup]

I'm also in the software biz and from my experience some of the worst contract firms for developing are also some of the biggest. I'm not saying that's the case here because i haven't looked at it but just because they got the contract doesn't mean they really knew what they were doing.

In their defense, one of the big problems was all the federal databases they have to hit to verify all kind of stuff about the applicant.

I really think this is key. The federal government is a mix-mash of what one Director was sold and the other Director was sold...and they seldom interact well (or at all).

I would not be surprised at all if they don't just have to scale back.

Many of the systems that the ACA primary website is relying on for quick inputs are probably all f_cked up and were barely getting by on the volume they had before.

Truth be told...the folks who are saying this could take a year - may be being optimistic.

If your foundation is cracked and you want to build higher...guess what you have to do first?...fix the foundation.

Edited November 22, 2013 by DJlaysitup