编程与软件工程berglas.org
为什么软件项目失败很重要（2008）
Why It Is Important That Software Projects Fail (2008)
2009 — 2020，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
一篇 2008 年的短文，提出一个反直觉的论点：软件的主要净效果是助长官僚体系的复杂性，因此软件项目失败其实对社会有益——失败是一种天然的刹车，防止组织被无穷无尽的流程和数据需求淹没。文章以半开玩笑的笔调展开，把工程项目的"成功"与软件项目的"失败"作对比。
为什么经久不衰：它用一个刻薄又难忘的角度解释了大企业/政府 IT 为何总是烂尾，二十多年后仍是讨论软件与官僚制关系时的经典靶子——无论赞同还是反驳都值得一读。
HN 评论精选
同意原文的观察但反转价值判断：官僚复杂性可以是包容弱者的工具，而非纯粹的恶。
我很喜欢这种对软件用途的概括，但我的道德判断完全相反。原文隐含地预设了官僚复杂性是坏事，可我认为增加它是社会的目标，伦理不断要求我们增加它。比如银行很容易直接拒绝有重罪记录的贷款申请人，因为按现有流程无利可图；但这个群体失去信贷的社会代价巨大，会增加犯罪和暴力。要区分人群并提供支持，办法就是增加官僚复杂性。作为一个无政府主义者，我希望这种复杂性尽可能贴近受影响的社区。软件之梦应是近乎无限的官僚复杂性，让我们更自由、更健康。
erikpukinskis查看英文原文
> As the primary net effect of software is to facilitate bureaucratic complexity it is therefor essential that software projects fail I love this conceptualization of what software is for. But I have the complete opposite moral interpretation. Unstated is the presumption that bureaucratic complexity is bad. I think increasing it is the goal of society, and ethics constantly demand us to increase it. For example, it’s easy for banks to simply reject loan applicants who were convicted of felonies. There’s no easy upside: given existing loan approval and repayment processes there’s no clear way to give those loans profitably. There is a huge social cost to that group lacking access to credit though. It increases crime and violence. And there is probably a long term financial cost too: some felons will reliably make their payments. And still more COULD reliably make payments with the right support. So how does a bank separate out those groups and provide that support? Increase bureaucratic complexity! I am not necessarily in favor of locating that complexity in a state government. As an anarchist I would want to locate it as close to the affected community as possible.... But to me the dream of software is nearly infinite bureaucratic complexity that affords all of us greater freedom, and health.
反驳：软件在无障碍和医疗等领域实实在在改善生活，不该以偏概全。
这是短视而过于悲观的软件观。说点当下疫情尤其需要的乐观：软件其实对世界有益。无障碍领域就是例子——我本人和好几位朋友能独立快乐地生活，很大程度上靠屏幕阅读器、语音合成、OCR 和语音识别。对健全人只是便利的许多产品，对我们是改变人生。我为那些困在只增加官僚复杂性的软件世界里、看不到软件其他好处的人感到遗憾。
mwcampbell查看英文原文
> As the primary net effect of software is to facilitate bureaucratic complexity it is therefor essential that software projects fail if society is to function effectively. This is a short-sighted and overly pessimistic view of the role of software. Let's bring in some sorely needed optimism that's especially relevant to the current pandemic: https://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2020/04/05/ANewHope.html Another area where software is actually good for the world is accessibility. Lots of people with disabilities, including me and several of my friends, are able to live independent and happy lives largely thanks to software such as screen readers, speech synthesizers (useful for both blind people and people who can't speak), optical character recognition, and speech recognition. Not to mention that many products and services that are merely convenient for able-bodied people are life-changing for us. So I feel bad for people who are so caught up in the world of software that merely increases bureaucratic complexity, that they've lost sight of all of the good that software is doing, or at least don't get to contribute to that kind of software.
现实反例：好的政务软件可以极大简化流程，烂软件是治理问题而非软件的宿命。
想法有趣，但现实中完全荒谬。我复核个人所得税只要一分钟——数据早就预填好了，手机上点两下就签名提交给税务局。不用填纸表、不用找数字、不用翻旧工资单。哪个国家搞得比这更麻烦，我就不去那儿住。如果你的公共管理软件很烂，那是你把错的人选上了台，别怪软件。
Hokusai查看英文原文
Interesting as food for though. Completely absurd in reality. It takes me 1 minute to review, all data is already filled in, my yearly income tax (not much ongoing a part from my salary). And, two clicks in my phone approve, sign and send the declaration to the tax agency. No writing in paper, no looking for numbers, no finding old mail with my payslips. I would avoid living in any country that makes it more complicated that this. If your public administration software sucks, you are voting the wrong people into public office. Do not blame the software.
对文章本身的方法论与原创性提出尖锐质疑：论点老套，包装浮夸。
危险信号：作者在摘要第三句话就自称"大胆"；一篇自出版的两页论文还配了摘要，还要把自己名字冠在一个新发现的 econ "定律"上；用"统计显著"和"经验证明"这类词，却看不出对它们在正式写作中的含义有基本了解。更重要的是，作者似乎认为"新流程带来的效率提升总会被随之增加的官僚成本抹平"这个观察在 2008 年是新鲜有用的——人们至少从罗马共和国时代就在抱怨这件事了。
ajarmst查看英文原文
Red flags: Author has already claimed to be "bold" by the third word of the abstract. Author includes an abstract on a two page self-published paper where they further propose their own name to decorate a newly discovered economic "law". Author uses phrases "statistically significant" and "empirical proof" without betraying any familiarity with their normal meaning in formal prose. And, most importantly, author apparently believes that the observation that efficiencies introduced by new processes are invariably erased by increases in associated bureaucracy was novel and useful in 2008. People have been complaining about that since at least the Roman Republic.
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