A lack of strong leadership appears to have been a factor in HP's problem, which led to the dismissal of three top executives in its server and storage business, hours after the company announced disappointing earnings Aug. 12.
HP did not return a telephone call seeking comment but has said that its problems have been resolved. Wohl said the software, made by SAP, was not at fault.
Big projects also can sour during development, particularly when insufficient resources are allocated, the people who will have a stake in the new system don't participate in planning and executives don't care. All that can lead to miscommunication with the software.
"Mistakes hurt, but misunderstandings kill," said John Michelsen, chief executive of ITKO Inc., which makes software that helps companies manage big software projects and tests them automatically.
Michelsen said his Dallas-based company's Lisa software attempted to reduce the complexity of testing, so nontechnical executives in charge of major software projects could ensure the actual code adhered to their vision.
The lack of robust testing during and after such a project probably contributed to the Sept. 14 air traffic control radio system outage over parts of California, Nevada and Arizona. All 403 planes in the air during the incident managed to land safely, said FAA spokesman Donn Walker.
The genesis of the problem was the transition in 2001 by Harris Corp. of the Federal Aviation Administration's Voice Switching Control System from Unix-based servers to Microsoft Corp.'s off-the-shelf Windows Advanced Server 2000.
By most accounts, the move went well except the new system required regular maintenance to prevent data overload. When that wasn't done, it turned itself off as it was designed to do. But the backup also failed.
Michelsen blamed the failure on inadequate testing: "On a regular basis, the FAA should have been downing that primary system and watching that backup system come up. If it doesn't go up and stay up, they would have known they had a problem to fix long before they needed to rely on it."
