Fail4Lib

Fail4Lib

• 1.
  Fail4Lib Failing withgrace and style... or not. Jason Casden and Andreas Orphanides NCSU Libraries (jmcasden|akorphan)@ncsu. edu
• 2.
  Outline 1. Identifying and managing failure 2. Failure anxiety! 3. Talking about failure 4. Lightning talks
• 3.
  Outcomes 1. I liketo think about wrongness and failure a. Can we talk about it in a productive way? b. Can we improve the ways we handle, seek, or discuss failure? 2. Is this kind of workshop useful? a. There will be a survey.
• 4.
  Part 1: Identifying& managing failure
• 5.
  Readings 1) The Long,Dismal History of Software Project Failure (Coding Horror) http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/05/the-long-dismal-history-of- software-project-failure.html 2) Sowing Failure, Reaping Success (New York Times) http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/sowing-failure-reaping- success-what-failure-can-teach/ 3) On Being Wrong (Kathryn Schulz via TED) http://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_on_being_wrong.html
• 6.
  Why "failure?"
• 7.
  Some flavors offailure ● Technical failure ● Failure to effectively address a real user need ● Overinvestment ● Outreach/Promotion failure ● Design/UX failure ● Project team communication failure ● Missed opportunities (risk-averse failure) (!) ● Failure to launch
• 17.
  Hosted by NinaMcHale and Chris Evjy, featuring Monique Sendze, Jason Battles, Rachel Vacek, and Steve Teeri.
• 18.
  Access 2011
• 19.
  Biz Lit buzz ● Lean startup principles ● Failing fast ● Pivots ● Beginner's mind ● Wrongology
• 20.
  Managing risk ● Building diverse teams ● Expecting dead ends ● Having fall-back plans ● Fault-tolerant schedules ● Establishing flexible goals at the start
• 21.
  Getting myself beatup Avoiding Schulz's assumptions 1) Ignorance assumption 2) Idiocy assumption 3) The evil assumption
• 22.
  Breakout 1: Understandingand dealing with failure in your own practice ● What are the symptoms of failure? ● How do you identify an incipient failure and try to recover/adjust? ● What do you do after a project has failed? How do you make failure valuable? (Post-mortems, recovery, etc....) ● How do you plan for the unknown when beginning a project? ● How do you manage risk to mitigate potential damage when undertaking work in new areas?
• 23.
  Part 2: Failureanxiety!
• 24.
  Readings 1) Mitt Romneylearns the hard way: mission critical systems are called that for a reason (Ars Technica) http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/11/inside-team-romneys-whale-of-an-it- meltdown/ 2) The Therac-25 disaster: the dangers of a “nothing will go wrong” mentality Short version (CalPoly software engineering): http://users.csc.calpoly. edu/~jdalbey/SWE/Papers/THERAC25.html Full report (Nancy Levison, PI of the Therac-25 investigation) -- Optional, but a fascinating read: http://sunnyday.mit.edu/papers/therac.pdf 3) How risk averse is too risk averse? Bruce Schneier on "Cover Your Ass" security policy (Wired) http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2007/02/72774? currentPage=all
• 25.
  1: ORCA andcontextual testing ● Testing dimensions for realtime services ● Communications strategy, training, etc ● Resource deployment ● Security, trust, timing, identity mgmt ● Helpdesk support ● Common-sense documentation management
• 26.
  2: THERAC-25 &software control ● Risk management and risk severity ● High-risk software dev anti-practices ○ Inherited software, new hardware ○ Poor code design and management ○ Redundant hardware checks? ○ Test environment / reality mismatch ● Limits and risks of software control ● Opaque error reporting ● Denial
• 27.
  3: TSA CYA ●Hindsight-based security practices ● Relative risk versus perceived risk ● "Just in case" thinking ● Visible but ineffective "security theater" ● What drives risk management decisions?
• 28.
  Breakout 2: Where'sthe sweet spot? ● How could these problems have been avoided, or their damage mitigated? ● How can we manage the need for assigning blame? How do we focus on moving forward after a failure? Are there cases where finding a responsible party is warranted? ● What liabilities are associated with too great a focus on blame/responsibility? What liabilities are associated with setting aside the assignment of responsibility? ● What are the worst case scenarios for your own work? How does this affect your risk management choices?
• 29.
  Part 3: Talkingabout failure
• 30.
  Readings 1) James Dysonon living a life of failure (37 Signals) http://37signals.com/svn/posts/408-james-dyson-on-living-a-life-of-failure 2) Quantity always trumps quality (Coding Horror) http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/08/quantity-always-trumps- quality.html 3) Blameless PostMortems and a Just Culture (Etsy: Code as Craft) http://codeascraft.etsy.com/2012/05/22/blameless-postmortems/
• 31.
  Balancing credibility andflexibility Certainty is a limited resource early on This isn't an excuse for poor planning or communication
• 32.
  Iteration
• 33.
  "Pivots"
• 34.
  Breakout 3: Survivingfailure, risk, and the unexpected with grace. ● How do you prepare colleagues for unexpected outcomes? ● What is your organization’s approach to risk and failure? ○ Is risk well-tolerated/well-managed? ○ What are the consequences of a failed project? ○ Is failure seen as an endpoint -- a negative outcome to an endeavor -- or merely a step in the development process? ● How do you talk about “failure” with your colleagues? Supervisors? Stakeholders? Patrons? Reports? What kind of language do you use?
• 35.
  Lightning talks!