A "No Kidding" Risk Analysis

[Craig S.]

<snip>
During  the risk analysis of the flaw, the consensus was:  "This
will have zero impact to our members as everyone knows
Windows can't stay up for 6 days."

I'm not kidding!  This is what business people are
saying about Windows.
</snip>


That is what happens when marketing over-rules engineering. Something
similar almost happened at a local corporation. There was a minor
clocking problem on a VOR module that would cause a BER of 3%. When the
problem was isolated I found that the problem was from a ring (a spike
on the leading or trailing edge of a digital signal that slowly settles
down over the period of the wave) across a FET that could be solved with
a RC circuit to delay the time just a little that it took the FET to
turn on. The solution would have cost about 10 cents a card. But because
of the red tape involved to change the paperwork Honeywell decided that
the problem wasn't that serious. Of course I couldn't let that set
(after all would you want erroneous data on your position in the air 3%
of the time) the change was eventually made. Of course I was branded a
troublemaker and my contract wasn't renewed (technically I was fired).

Craig S.

PS: When did pinhead finance majors start making engineering decisions?
That is something that really bugs me.