Re:Healthcare.gov crashing because backend doomed in the req...
by Retric on Monday October 21, 2013 @01:32PM
(#6586956)
You don't need 100% final requirements to start building the system. If nothing else start working though the interfaces with other systems, and try and get as close as possible to a working prototype. Granted funding is often an issue, but even a tiny team given a few months head start can get a lot done.
Re:Healthcare.gov crashing because backend doomed in the req...
by Plasmoid on Monday October 21, 2013 @01:54PM
(#6587120)
On government contracts that's actually a problem. You can't bill for any work you did without 'authorization'. Which means you can't do anything until a finalized spec, signed in triplicate, is physically delivered to you.
Re:Healthcare.gov crashing because backend doomed in the req...
by betterunix on Monday October 21, 2013 @02:09PM
(#6587205)
I have wondered for some time now if it is legal to develop tools and libraries that are relevant to an upcoming contract, but which are also general purpose and could be used elsewhere.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/us/politics/from-the-start... (October 12)
And from today (Oct 21): http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/us/insurance-site-seen-nee...
In a previous life I worked on similar software development projects at the US State level. This project was several orders of magnitude larger in scope and in complexity than what I worked on. Assuming a generous start date for Spring - say March 1 - this boils down to ~7 months to design and develop to the Oct 1 hard deadline. Nearly impossible in my opinion.
I'm not discounting that there couldn't be issues else where in whole process. These would include: communication overhead between all the various agencies and contractors, integration nightmares, and not enough skilled folks at Medicare to manage all of this. But having the requirements delivered several months before roll-out seems to me a recipe for disaster.