[LINK] NBN and Batteries

Bernard Robertson-Dunn brd at iimetro.com.au
Thu Feb 24 09:40:12 AEDT 2011


On 24/02/2011 7:46 AM, Stilgherrian wrote:
>> On 23/02/11 9:39 PM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>>> This battery thing suggests to me that the original NBN solution didn't
>>> think it all the way through.
> Um, in any project planning exercise it's only "thought all the way through" at the end, not the beginning.
>
> Surely the series of drafts, public discussions and revisions we've seen over the past couple of years are just the normal process of planning a big project with lots and lots of stakeholders?
>
> [Whether this specific series of processes is the best is another question, of course. Maybe it's been flawed. Maybe not. I am not a project engineer so I can't tell the difference. But then neither can most commentators.]
>
> I've come into this thread 85% of the way in, but that comment just caught me eye, so forgive me if it's being taken out of context. It's a hot-button issue for me, this idea -- which I think is misguided -- that because a plan is changed as the whole thing is gradually better understood, that somehow it's a failure.
>
> Stil

In any large system design there are always two types of requirements

1. those that need to be considered early (think of building a house. 
Where you put it, how many rooms, where do they go -  are of this type)

2. those you can leave until later (in the house example, think of wall 
colours, curtains, taps selection)

In the case of the NBN, the use of the system during a power outage 
should probably fall into type 1. Even if it doesn't it is a critical 
second order problem (i.e. a problem caused by the solution) which needs 
to be addressed as a problem in its own right, not as a wrinkle of the 
original solution.

And I'm not suggesting that plans shouldn't be changed or that the NBN 
is a failure. I'm commenting on the way projects get to muck about with 
the system as a solution rather than referring back to the problem(s).

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
email:	 brd at iimetro.com.au
website: www.drbrd.com




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