Written April 2008
by Cliff Feldwick
Part of the joy derived from saying “I told you so” diminishes when you realize that (a) it was too easy, and (b) it just wasted a lot of money. In September of 06, I noted that a herd of the usual suspects of the defense industry were elbowing into the trough of Homeland Security for the “Secure Border Initiative”, proposing all sorts of schemes to capitalize on the dual fetishes of security and immigration. In any case, the winner was Boeing, who proposed sensors mounted on towers (1800 of them, just to be sure) as well as the occasional truck-mounted unmanned vehicle. Only thing missing were trained prairie dogs, but maybe that would have come in the second wave.
So it is no surprise to see the February headline in the Washington Post: “’Virtual Fence’ Along Border to be Delayed – U.S. Retooling High-Tech Barrier After 28-Mile Pilot Project Fails”. Gee, it seems that in the haste to have a system running during the debate in Congress about immigration, Boeing had, according to the General Accounting Office, “basically took equipment, put it on towers and put it out there without any testing as such”. Cameras couldn’t focus, radar was triggered inadvertently by rain, and the software was so slow it couldn’t process data fast enough to be useful. The price for this debacle? Well the initial contract was for $20.6 million, but in December another $65 million was added. Yep, nothing like an “add-on” at triple the price. Boeing has offered a $2 million credit to DHS, however, because things turned out as badly as they did. After all is said and done, the pilot project proved that their design wouldn’t work, so re-working it will take at least another three years. I hate to think of the final cost. Remember that this was a 28 mile pilot project for a 2000 mile southern border. The original estimate was $2 billion. The Post article noted that it was now up to $7 billion. And just wait for those add-ons.
Doesn’t this sound familiar?Aaaarrrrgggg!
Why does the image of Lucy holding a football come to mind? Here, Charley Brown, this time I won’t pull it away! Yep, this time I’m going to kick it to the moon! Yes sir, this time your money will be well spent on something that might work and be for a defined, useful task! Aaaarrrrgggg!
People used to use the derisive term of “throwing money at a problem”. Then it deteriorated to “throwing testing at a problem” (No Child Left Where?). Now we have “throwing technology at a problem”.
Let’s face it – as long as there’s money to be made by proposing ever more complicated solutions to high-visibility problems, companies will line up for the chance. Somehow more simple things like hiring more Border Patrol agents who speak the language and giving them radios that work seem to be ignored.
So what about me?
Do you do the same thing at work? In an effort to be more productive, are you constantly updating programs for versions with more features? Do they really enhance things, or make you more confused? After learning where all the more useful commands are hidden (usually about 5% of the available features), do you have to be re-trained on another update? How’s that working for you?
Interestingly enough, there is a “new” word processor out that features a blank black screen with green words on it. No feature bars, no “Assistants” (don’t you just want to bend that stupid paper clip into an obscene position?), no instant built-in Internet access. Yes, it has spell-check and (hidden) cut and paste, but little else. It even scrolls the words up so what you’re working on sits in the middle of the screen, allowing you to concentrate on what you’re writing. Amazing.
Want to really up your productivity? Turn off the e-mail “feature” that dings or pops up an image on your screen every time you get another message. Check them only when you need a break, or maybe every half-hour or so. Yes, you really can do without it that long. Turn off the news feeds on the bottom of the screen, and don’t have your internet browser running in the background. Get simple folks. Amazing how much more you will get done. You might even have time to read the paper and notice stupid trends.
Cliff Feldwick is president of Riverside Computer Consultants, and offers reasonable computer solutions such as networks, troubleshooting and data retrieval, when not throwing wooden shoes into the gears of stupid ideas. He can be reached at 410-880-0171 or at cliff@feldwick.com.