

Troubled £12bn NHS IT system to be scaled back - RiderOfGiraffes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8397854.stm

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wglb
I wonder if this is an example of the "big bang" system. Recall the concept
that "large complex systems that work were once small working systems." Or put
another way, if it doesn't work when it is small, can it be expected to work
when it is large?

Do we know how to build these sort of things organically? I recall the giant
FBI system that was scrapped. And it sounds like the FAA ATC system is too
large to be replaced.

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SamAtt
Except the fact that plenty of large private organizations manage to do things
like this every day. The NHS is huge but no bigger than Walmart's worldwide
organization. But if Walmart spent $25 billion dollars on a system they'd do
it with the knowledge that it has to be done right or they'll drive themselves
out of business.

While with government agencies you have politicians, who don't know what
they're talking about, defining artificial timelines based on political
concerns. So the project implodes 7 years later and no one holds the
individual politicians accountable.

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moe
Ahem. This is a _software_ system, right?

Okay, you need some beefy server infrastructure. Heck screw that, let's just
build an entire datacenter, we're the government after all. A billion dollars
should get you something nice, flower tapestry and all.

So, and then we need this ubercomplex software system. That, like, stores a
data-record for a few million user^Wpatients. We probably want to tie that to
chipcards and stuff.

Boy such a system can be expensive to build. I'd say a few hundred millions
for sure. But hey, it's almost christmas, let's be generous and clock in
another billion here - those oracle licenses don't pay for themselves.

Okay, so, excuse me if I'm dense. But what exactly have the other 10 billion
dollars been spent on?

