Sudden Change vs Gradual Change
I have seen a few sudden changes of vendor in my career. And this is usually sign of either “not thinking through” or “the bean counters are in charge”.
Once at Ascension Health, it seems they only implemented the Okta two factor authentication for a few days or a few weeks, then suddenly they switch back to Microsoft AD (Active Directory). It seems to me this one was due to some executives have second thought on Okta. They want to go all in with Microsoft in terms of authentication (and authorization) as well, and they built a layer on the top of Azure AD B2C (and named it as AscensionID).
Now I think about it, in a way “sudden change” is probably easier than change an entrenched software (or rewrite), or trying to slowly change a software or app. Because the “sudden change” approach is somewhat like “just rip off the bandage”. In the case of the example above, because it barely went into production, it was not entrenched.
On the contrary, I have seen in a few cases in my career, we were trying to rewrite an app or a software, only end up going nowhere after spending quite some time. Re-write has its own challenges, btw.
In fact, in most cases: I realized we end up not switching – note this is after decent or significant efforts (in terms of money, multi-millions dollars). If it’s my money, I don’t think I would spend it like that.
About 2 years ago, I recall this incident – (CNN) Aging, outdated technology leaves air travel at risk of meltdown. Quote:
The glitch at the center of this week’s headache was a corrupted database file in a pilots’ advisory system that issues warnings, known as NOTAMs, of various hazards that could affect a flight, ranging from notices of closed runways to the presence of nearby construction equipment. The damaged file was also present in the FAA’s backup system, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, which first reported the detail on Wednesday.
Officials moved to reboot the main NOTAM system early Wednesday morning, but it failed to be completely restored by the time rush hour began on the East Coast, leading to the FAA ground stop. A senior US official told CNN Wednesday there was no evidence of foul play in the incident, a detail the FAA later publicly confirmed.…
The NOTAM issue occurred just days after the FAA had said an “air traffic computer issue” was responsible for hours-long flight delays to Florida airports on Jan. 2. That system, known as ERAM, is responsible for tracking hundreds of flights at a time and is considered a critical component of the FAA’s efforts to modernize the US airspace.
More recently, I heard that the DOGE or more precisely Elon is going to fix the old systems at FAA. See below. Note this is different from the system above: also current system is neither Verizon or Starlink.
(Twitter/X) The FAA is close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract with Verizon and HANDING IT OVER TO STARLINK.
(Politico) Musk slams a Starlink competitor amid questions about $2.4B FAA contract
(Rolling Stone) FAA Officials Ordered Staff to Find Funding for Elon Musk’s Starlink
Quote Rolling Stone here:
Elon Musk’s satellite business Starlink may not have officially taken over Verizon’s $2.4 billion contract with the Federal Aviation Administration yet to upgrade the systems it uses to manage America’s airspace. However, on Friday, FAA officials ordered staff to begin finding tens of millions of dollars for a Starlink deal, according to a source with knowledge of the FAA and two people briefed on the situation.
The sources note that these internal directives have mostly, if not entirely, been delivered verbally — which they say is unusual for a matter like this. The source with knowledge of the FAA tells Rolling Stone that it appears as though “someone does not want a paper trail.”
I can recall in a few other cases “verbal instructions only” are used, e.g., the dismantle of USAid, CFPB by the DOGE team.
And last but not the least, Protest held at South County Tesla dealership.
Full disclosure: no stock positions on $MSFT, $OKTA, $TSLA and $VZ at this time.