I've also just realised the significance of today: it's the anniversary of the Challenger Shuttle disaster of 1986. As someone who follows science, cosmology, astronomy and space exploration a sad and disastrous day; along with the other shuttle failure, i think it's the worst disaster in space. But it also reminds me of a personal event, although not reallydisaster of, just a learning experience. I was working for the PO IT department at the time and was at an away day with the marketing department at the PO trining college in Rugby on the same date. They were to be the main users of a system I'd been assigned to as joint project leader, although if I remember correctly I was on my own as my colleague had just resigned and was left back in London. It wasn't planned but over dinner because of the direction of conversation I had to break it to the Assistant Director of marketing that the previous project leader, a consultant from an IT services company who'd just left, had lied and the system wasn't going to be delivered in three weeks time as promised. He wasn't happy and I was the only personfrom IT there to be shouted at. Next morning the assistant to the AD asked me why I didnt lie about the delivery date for an easy time! Why would I? I couldn't see the point in that - the lies would soon have become apparent. Anyway, my boss was very supportive as were others in IT and we got the project back on an even keel by employing a contract programmer, although there were the typical technical issues with some communications software and a services supplier cleaning up data who also misled us about progress, but we did start implementation before I left - I'd decided the bullying, economy with truth along with other things weren't a culture I wanted to stay in. My boss, a department head who was also a recent recent and who recruited me, also left about a month after me.So looking back, I'm not entirely surprised about Horizon, just the scale of it, the complicity of Fujitsu and some lawyers, and, shall we say, the gullibility of the judiciary and government ministers plus the time it took to expose it.
Michael Ixer ● 90d