Irrational Optimism
April 2021
IT people are too optimistic. It is a natural consequence of our ability to build something from nothing. As a CIO or CTO, you need to make sure you have some pragmatic pessimists to point out the things that might go wrong. Because IT is too optimistic and Legal & Compliance is too cautious, IT organizations often turn to outsiders like me. Read more in my article on irrational optimism.
Risk Aversion
April 2021
Being able to evaluate risks and come to a good decision is risk management. Being unable to accept any risk is risk aversion. Is your IT organization paralyzed by risk aversion, driven by compliance and QA? Read my article on risk aversion.
Biased Data
April 2021
Machine Learning depends on the data you give it to learn from. If you give it data containing unconscious or conscious bias, you will get biased output. Google Translate and the Tay chatbot show that. How do you ensure the quality of your training data? Read my article on biased data.
Price Transparency
March 2021
In the U.S., a coronavirus test costs between $56 and $450. The reason is the lack of price transparency. When you buy IT products, chose a vendor who doesn’t try to hide the full cost. I talk about this and the cost of both proprietary and open-source software in my article “Price Transparency.”
Blaming the Humans
March 2021
When a weapons officer can launch a powerful missile by accident, you can’t just brush it off as “human error.” He was just the last link in the accident chain, and you need to break the chain before the human can do anything wrong. I talk about this and give more examples and specific advice in my article “Blaming the Humans.”