Acceleration Economy
  • Home
  • Cloud Wars
  • Analyst Content
    • By Category
      • AI/Hyperautomation
      • Cloud/Cloud Wars
      • Cybersecurity
      • Data
    • By Interest
      • Leadership
      • Office of the CFO
      • Partners Ecosystem
      • Sustainability
    • By Industry
      • Financial Services
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • Retail
    • By Type
      • Courses
        • Understanding the New Executive Buying Committee
      • Guidebooks
      • Digital Summits
      • Practitioner Roundtables
    • By Language
      • Español
  • Vendor Shortlists
    • All Vendors
    • AI/Hyperautomation
    • Cloud
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data
  • What we do
    • Advisory Services
    • Marketing Services
    • Event Services
  • Who we are
    • About Us
    • Practitioner Analysts
  • Subscribe
Twitter Instagram
  • Courses
  • Summit NA
  • Dynamics Communities
Twitter LinkedIn
Acceleration Economy
  • Home
  • Cloud Wars
  • Analyst Content
        • By Category
          • AI/Hyperautomation
          • Cloud/Cloud Wars
          • CybersecurityThe practice of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks, and data from malicious attacks.
          • Data
        • By Interest
          • Leadership
          • Office of the CFO
          • Partners Ecosystem
          • Sustainability
        • By Industry
          • Financial Services
          • Healthcare
          • Manufacturing
          • Retail
        • By Type
          • Courses
            • Understanding the New Executive Buying Committee
          • Guidebooks
          • Digital Summits
          • Practitioner Roundtables
        • By Language
          • Español
  • Vendor Shortlists
    • All Vendors
    • AI/Hyperautomation
    • Cloud
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data
  • What we do
    • Advisory Services
    • Marketing Services
    • Event Services
  • Who we are
    • About Us
    • Practitioner Analysts
  • Subscribe
    • Login / Register
Acceleration Economy
    • Login / Register
Home » How Air Traffic System Crashes Demonstrate the Urgent Need for IT Hygiene
Data Modernization Minute

How Air Traffic System Crashes Demonstrate the Urgent Need for IT Hygiene

It's easy to 'blame the intern' but executive technology managers own process failures
Wayne SadinBy Wayne SadinJanuary 19, 2023Updated:March 20, 20232 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
To adjust the volume hover the cursor over the volume bar
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

In episode 44 of the Data Modernization Minute, Wayne Sadin continues the conversation on IT reassurances that should scare CEOs and board members. This time, Wayne focuses on the crashing of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) system, NOTAM, as well as NAV CANADA.

Highlights

00:36 — NOTAM is a system the FAA uses to notify airports and air crews about non-emergency situations. Recently, the system crashed and resulted in hour-long stoppages on the ground. The FAA announced that some of its contractors changed the data in its database.

01:15 — Wayne notes how the response to this incident is similar to a “blame the intern” strategy. Wayne argues that humans should not be able to change a critical database in a production system. If databases are being changed for any reason, there’d better be approval from someone “who knows what they’re doing.”

02:50 — People are not to blame but rather, the executive management of technology, since they did not build the proper checks and balances, processes, and tools to ensure this cannot happen.

03:05 — At the same time the FAA was failing, so was NAV CANADA, the Canadian equivalent of the FAA, which suffered a similar “meltdown” to the FAA. NAV CANADA claimed that the failure was due to an isolated hardware problem that it shortly fixed.

03:26 — Wayne does not find these responses to be reassuring. Major systems that run air traffic control for the entire country cannot be dismissed as having an “isolated incident” that took down an entire system — companies cannot run this way in the modern world. A solution that Wayne suggests is using multiple systems, rather than a single one, in case a part of the system goes down.

04:48 — There must be industrial-scale technology to ensure that operators are “comfortable that they are doing it right.” Incidents that occurred with the FAA and NAV CANADA raise IT oversight questions, highlight issues of technical debt, and suggest that organizations need to evaluate their “IT hygiene.”


Looking for more insights into all things data? Subscribe to the Data Modernization channel:

Data Modernization Channel Logo

data database Risk Management
Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
Analystuser

Wayne Sadin

CIO/CTO/CDO | CEO/Board Advisor
Independent Director

Areas of Expertise
  • Board Strategy
  • Cybersecurity
  • Digital Business
  • Website
  • LinkedIn

Wayne Sadin, an Acceleration Economy Analyst focused on Board Strategy, has had a 30-year IT career spanning Logistics, Financial Services, Energy, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Direct-Response Marketing, Construction, Consulting, and Technology. He’s been CIO, CTO, CDO, advisor to CEOs/Boards, Angel Investor, and Independent Director at firms ranging from start-ups to multinationals.

  Contact Wayne Sadin ...

Related Posts

Celonis Leverages Generative AI, and Its API, to Expand Process Mining’s Reach

June 4, 2023

Women in AI Empowers Minority Groups Through Events, Education

June 3, 2023

How the Rise of Deepfakes and New Technology Challenge Traditional Cybersecurity

June 2, 2023

How to Make AI Explainable and Unlock Synergy With Humans

June 2, 2023
Add A Comment

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts
  • Celonis Leverages Generative AI, and Its API, to Expand Process Mining’s Reach
  • Women in AI Empowers Minority Groups Through Events, Education
  • How the Rise of Deepfakes and New Technology Challenge Traditional Cybersecurity
  • How to Make AI Explainable and Unlock Synergy With Humans
  • How Microsoft Executed an Epic Pivot: Embracing OpenAI Alongside Internal Dev

  • 3X a week
  • Analyst Videos, Articles & Playlists
  • Exclusive Digital Business Content
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Most Popular Guidebooks

The Ethical and Workforce Impacts of Generative AI

May 26, 2023

Co-Creation and Growth With Professional Services

May 24, 2023

The Business Impact and Opportunity of Generative AI

May 16, 2023

Healthcare Industry Clouds

May 10, 2023

Advertisement
Acceleration Economy
Twitter LinkedIn
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Get In Touch
  • Advertising Opportunities
  • Do not sell my information
© 2023 Acceleration Economy.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

  • Login
Forgot Password?

Connect with

Login with Google Login with Windowslive

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.