Chapter 6 - Systems Developement

Until I read Chapter 6, Systems Developement, I always thought that we were the only company that was behind schedule and over budget on just about every new system we developed. Whether it be a database, an authoring system, or some other electronic tool that would reduce throughput time, we never seemed to finish within our time or budgetary constraints. Then, after reading Chapter 6, I realized that this was a common occurrence. In fact, on page 158, the author of our textbook states, "Systems developement is difficult and risky. Many projects are never finished. Of those that are finished, some are 200 or 300 percent over budget." After reading this, I guess I don't feel so bad.

At first, when I was invited to participate in systems developement, I was excited. I thought that I finally had a chance to make a permanent mark on the company and its customers. I mean, these customers are global organizations with awesome responsibilities. British Airways, Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, American Airlines, Air France, Singapore Airlines; the list goes on and on. After a while, however, my excitement turned to frustration. Most of this was a result of the requirements that we were tasked to write. As stated on page 163, the Requirements Analysis Phase is the second step in the Systems Developement Life Cycle (SDLC). From my experience this step is the most important, and the most frustrating. It took a while for us all to realize how difficult this task would be. Just about every time we "completed" a section of the requirements, we realized that we forgot to document a step from a previous section. Eventually we got stuck in what the author calls "Analysis Paralysis", which he says is one of the pitfalls of SDLC. In fact, while an employee of Boeing, he said they wrote a set of requirements that took 70 labor years to complete, was contained in some 20 volumes, and stood 7 feet tall!

Eventually we got through that first project. Since then I have participated in five more, and I am currently assisting with the largest project we have tackled to date: a completely new authoring system, created from scratch! These requirements are intimidating, although not nearly as complex as those that our textbook author worked on. And finally, all of the previous experience has paid off. I now approach these projects with a new mindset and a much greater understanding of the entire process. Reading Chapter 6 certainly gave me a greater appreciation of SDLC. It also made me realize we have a great deal more work to do. At least this time I won't be so angry if it never rolls out!