[LINK] Fwd: Test or Fail - A Lesson from Myer: The Infonomics Letter on Digital Leadership and Governance of IT - 7 January 2014

[Jan Whitaker]

Mark Toomey's Newsletter this month has an interesting analysis of 
the Myer fail.

>
>Test or Fail - A Lesson from Myer
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>
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>David Rice wrote in Geekonomics (published by Addison Wesley in 
>2008) about the contemporary IT industry's habit of releasing to 
>market software that has not been adequately tested. Chapter 2 is 
>titled "Six Billion Crash Test Dummies: Irrational Innovation and 
>Perverse Incentives". In a nutshell, he argues that competitive 
>pressure combined with market demand for the newest, greatest 
>technology forces technology developers to release to market 
>products that in some cases are not even complete, let alone 
>robustly tested. We see the consequences in myriad technology 
>failures, many with high visibility and potentially serious 
>consequences, such as those involving exposure of sensitive personal 
>information.
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>But nowadays we are seeing new pressure to reinforce the importance 
>of proper testing. Empowered consumers vent their frustration with 
>poor performance and the press gives substantial attention to major 
>failures. Organisations which deliver substandard systems suffer 
>reputation damage and are increasingly at risk of losing customers.
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>In the week following Christmas 2013, one major Australian retailer, 
>Myer Holdings Ltd, provided an interesting illustration of what 
>happens to organisations that, however unwittingly, use the crash 
>test dummy technique when engaging with their online customers. In 
>parallel with extensive discussion of the problem in all of general, 
>business and IT specialist press, members of the Australian 
>Institute of Company Directors LinkedIn community began a discussion 
>on "Myer Boxing Day website crash... what does it say about IT 
>Governance maturity in Australia?".
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>
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>There are many dimensions to the question and many layers to the 
>problem that Myer experienced. It's worth exploring.
>
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>Like many Australian retailers, Myer has been a late arrival at the 
>online retail sales party. CEO Bernie Brooks, who began his tenure 
>in 2006, is reported in the Australian Financial Review (Myer's 
>Brookes admits online errors, 24 July 2013) as acknowledging that 
>the company should have done more to be ready for the rise of online 
>retail - a phenomenon in which Australians have become significant 
>personal importers buying from offshore websites. But by the end of 
>2013, Myer was gaining a toehold in the online space, with about one 
>percent of turnover coming from its online channel. It expects the 
>online channel to grow to 10% of turnover within 5 years.
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>In common with many domestic retailers, Myer exploited the freedom 
>of the online world to jump the gun for its traditional Boxing Day 
>Sale, opening the online store to the annual clearance bargains on 
>Christmas Day. It should have been a bumper experience for the 
>company and the customers. But something was wrong and the Myer 
>website ground to a halt. Messages from frustrated Myer customers 
>posted on Twitter, Whirlpool and Facebook indicate that the system 
>was effectively useless by 6:30 pm on Christmas Day. Unable to 
>resolve the problem quickly, Myer closed its online site, and it 
>stayed down for more than a week - returning in the early hours of January 2.
>
>Reliance on crash test dummies?
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>
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> >>>>>>Read 
> more(<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001sPaUUrocZ_QsFg5vy8XmIAeVwNuqPn7jX0G28VtU8lrZEv72ydIn580fc6Ca0S4NXd5Oh67jbVvKikE3NF4684LDrJgtGlMJkscMuoPvOE_f58s0oGvmTTJ3f1Fvw98gW1OsUhIy0QZ8OVnn9LuZxyjkET13dKbIyz1o-Y59aIlmXhu0fdsVQ2zBj0zwnFmODnr55gGFU8g=&c=iFx4NExjN6CjJ6G8ZwPPFEa0beyhZ71MUCnQpsH321g-xZTTfgsA8A==&ch=Ly1ojjBLs4xWoiiyPq5VHs6MdVH0lP31brDUrf0m-gxQKcbZP-4WZQ==>Online) 
>


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com

Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how 
do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space.
~Margaret Atwood, writer

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