Jemal Cole Loves You on Nostr: I used to work for the government on a large database project. I would get assigned ...
I used to work for the government on a large database project. I would get assigned to create a new feature or enhance an existing feature, and I’d like to describe the process.
1. Write my code in a sandbox environment and fully develop the feature.
2. Demo the code for the team and any relevant stakeholders, then incorporate any feedback.
3. Write a testing plan of all the ways to test the feature and any other parts of the code base it might affect.
4. Submit my code, written descriptions of how it worked and what it did, and the testing plan to the quarterly meeting of the change management board.
5. They could decide to ask for changes to the code or the plan, and I would spend the next quarter making those changes and resubmit.
6. They could decide that my change should wait for other higher priority code to enter testing, and delay until some quarter in the future.
7. Once it was accepted, it would be tested in a test environment and I would work with the test team to guide them.
8. If they found problems, I would address those problems in my sandbox and resubmit another change request to the next quarterly meeting.
9. Once the process had looped around to a successful test run, I would submit my change to the change board along with an implementation plan at the next quarterly meeting.
9. The board would either approve the change to be implemented that quarter or delay for higher priority changes, or ask for updates to the implantation plan, which would require submitting the next quarter.
That’s a LOT. And it might seem foolish, but a) it was a very important database, and b) it never, ever, ever went down.
With that in mind, Elon Musk, the guy who broke Twitter, is leading a team of non-cleared, non-government employees who are making changes to systems they just got access to in the past few days without any sort of process or consideration for what happens if things go wrong.
And it should worry everyone!
1. Write my code in a sandbox environment and fully develop the feature.
2. Demo the code for the team and any relevant stakeholders, then incorporate any feedback.
3. Write a testing plan of all the ways to test the feature and any other parts of the code base it might affect.
4. Submit my code, written descriptions of how it worked and what it did, and the testing plan to the quarterly meeting of the change management board.
5. They could decide to ask for changes to the code or the plan, and I would spend the next quarter making those changes and resubmit.
6. They could decide that my change should wait for other higher priority code to enter testing, and delay until some quarter in the future.
7. Once it was accepted, it would be tested in a test environment and I would work with the test team to guide them.
8. If they found problems, I would address those problems in my sandbox and resubmit another change request to the next quarterly meeting.
9. Once the process had looped around to a successful test run, I would submit my change to the change board along with an implementation plan at the next quarterly meeting.
9. The board would either approve the change to be implemented that quarter or delay for higher priority changes, or ask for updates to the implantation plan, which would require submitting the next quarter.
That’s a LOT. And it might seem foolish, but a) it was a very important database, and b) it never, ever, ever went down.
With that in mind, Elon Musk, the guy who broke Twitter, is leading a team of non-cleared, non-government employees who are making changes to systems they just got access to in the past few days without any sort of process or consideration for what happens if things go wrong.
And it should worry everyone!