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I'm afraid this is the way things are done at far too many, perhaps most, places. And, of course, it is never the fault of management if the product is late and/or buggy. 
Just because the code works, it doesn't mean that it is good code.
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Yup.
We try our best, but without a spec it's almost impossible to get all the business rules right...
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I have found it really is hard to get the rules right when they don't tell you all the rules and make last minute changes to some of the rules.  
Just because the code works, it doesn't mean that it is good code.
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Is this standard, or only because you are working for DoD (or maybe you are not anymore and I missed last episode) ?
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Do not feed the troll ! - Common proverb
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I no longer work for a defense contractor, and I hope I never have to resort to it again.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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Because not interesting or because of all the PITA restrictions and constraints of all sorts ?
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Do not feed the troll ! - Common proverb
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The work is interesting, but yeah, it's a pain in the ass to get anything done, especially if you're on-site working on a government network. The crap you have to go through is nightmarish. If you feel the need to step outside the original statement of work (the requirements/functional specs), it requires that the government go through the bidding process all over again (at least that's what I've been told by a government contract manager). The red tape is mind-blowing, and that's probably why the current healthcare site sucks so badly.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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I had an ex-colleague who changed employer and wrote parts of the software embedded into military helicopters as a new job : he could not change a line of the specifications, even if they seemed silly, and the implementation was quite complicated, since they sliced the software in tiny bits so that the developers could not understand which part they were programming for ! So the whole thing was completely bloated due to the lack of context and communication possibilities, quite an nightmare as well.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Do not feed the troll ! - Common proverb
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envy you 
We need a process to explain process so that they (team) can process the process.
Thanks,
Milind
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Designing software that's fit for use is paramount. UK governments swept aside criticisms about their IT contracts in the 90s and noughties. The NATS air traffic control system was delivered on time but nobody ensured it was fit for purpose. Another £450m was thrown at it until it was. The NAO was brushed aside when the then, independent Customs, refused to use a new system that was so complicated to use that it was scrapped after only two transactions. The total cost of the system escapes me but it was something like £500m+. One pensions system was written off after £1.5bn was thrown at it but I don't know what the IT component was at it included hardware as well. As long as we pay our taxes, government will use it wisely. 
All of this is peanuts compared to what the US will do. Best of luck to you/him/her/them.
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
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Sounds like a typical IT project to me.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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With all the controversy around Obamacare you would have thought they would have at least spent some money to do it right. Now, it's just more ammo for those against Obamacare.
But don't worry. Now that everyone has "affordable health care" there will be plenty of money to spend on making it right.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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The controversy was a major part of the problem. A lot more states than expected opted to have the feds run their exchange (most of the state run ones are in decent shape) instead of doing it themselves resulting in massive scope growth; while the lawfare in DC greatly delayed getting the requirements needed to build the bulk of the site defined.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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I've personally seen a large government contract for a foreign country(not UK) go to the completely wrong bidder.
Much of the time it seems that there are political undercurrents at work involving the executives - this then leads to decisions which the poor project managers and then developers have to fix after being given impossible deadlines
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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That's the free market for you!
=========================================================
I'm an optoholic - my glass is always half full of vodka.
=========================================================
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I have attempted to apply for some of the Fed Web site projects and all of the rates have always been abysmally low. Don't know about this one, however, but I am betting it was equally cheaply done as well.
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..you're suggesting to look beyond the price-difference. That way it sounds like work, and that's not tolerated in those environments.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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We recently launched a 250 million dollar software package at my place of employment.
The thing is a total nightmare.
The problem is that I think people are wanting the computers to do too much.
Every time they add a new requirement the complexity goes up exponentially.
How do you code a website to handle thousands of pages of health care law, and more importantly, how can you ever hope to maintain it?
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It would probably be working better had they gone with the cheapest bid. In reality, they went with dozens of companies who are best at bribing the government, several of which have a long history of disastrous projects. The latter is the most puzzling; when hiring someone, you typically pick someone who has a positive history of successful projects, not failures. Instead, they apparently did what my town did when repaving the main boulevard--gone with a buddy who paid the best bribes.
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: they will continue to get piss poor software delivered late and way over budget, and then wonder what the f*ck happened.
I disagree that it's not the fault of programmers. I've seen many programmers drive a project into the ground because they're over-optimistic, terrible at planning, and don't communicate with management (or amongst themselves.)
And the sad thing is, this isn't just rare instances. I've seen this in every company I've worked for in 30 years, and I've been a participant of some of those failure as well.
Marc
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I guess I've been fortunate enough to not observe that. The vast majority of problems I've seen are management related, and the only communications problems I've witnessed occurs between the primary contractor and their subs. Quite literally, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and the right hand is fine with that because they're more concerned with guarding their piece of the pie rather than making sure the pie comes out of the oven as intended.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: I've witnessed occurs between the primary contractor and their subs.
Well yes, I have seen that too, especially when I was working for various gov't programs. The fiasco surrounding the security system of the MX Missile Train program was one such example. It would have been laughable if not for the fact that taxpayers were paying for that debacle and some obviously very dangerous stuff was needing protection.
Marc
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Why would the US government use a different process for building our national healthcare infrastructure than they used for building our national defense systems?
Will Rogers never met me.
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From what I've heard (so it must be The Truth), we probably shouldn't be blaming the contractor. The administration was told last year that the website would not work due to various reasons (no interoperability between agencies, for instance), but the administration said shut up and do it anyway.
One could think they kept it quiet to avoid giving ammunition to the opposition during an election year, but it's more likely that they're just morons.
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: Until the government realizes this, they will continue to get piss poor software
delivered late and way over budget
Which is pretty much the case for all large organizations that attempt large projects regardless of whether they are government or not.
Of course small organizations can't attempt it because they do not have the resources and getting to the point where they had the resources would probably cause even more problems than if a large organization attempted it.
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