The UK Post Office scandal shows how bugged software can ruin lives.
In 1999 the UK post office introduced new software to manage its field offices, primarily for accounting and stocktaking, it was basically a type of point-of-sales system similar to what you have in convenience stores. Unfortunately, it was riddled with technical errors, some of them serious enough that they caused discrepancies in accounting records. Consequently, some employees were falsely accused of stealing funds, as the software indicated shortfalls in account balances where there were none.
Between 1999 and 2015, over 900 subpostmasters (individuals operating small post offices) were prosecuted for theft, false accounting, and fraud. Tragically, several individuals were wrongfully imprisoned, and at least four people took their own lives due to the devastating impacts of being falsely labeled as thieves, struggling with debt, and enduring the associated hardships. Despite numerous warnings regarding the software's defects, the Post Office maintained that they had thoroughly investigated the matter and denied any fault with the software.
This is an enormous scandal that affected many lives and I really do not want it to become a punchline and an introduction to a clickbait-y article like “Top 5 things about digital transformation we could learn from UK post office mishap”. However, I truly believe there are important lessons that could and should be learned here.
Trust your people
In the case of the UK post office, there were numerous reports from postmasters regarding the software. As simple as it sounds - just go with your people, not with software. Treat every claim professionally and investigate in depth. In this case, so much damage could have been averted if the organization had trusted its employees and partners to examine the issue seriously.
Digitalizing flawed procedures will only lead to scaling up wrong procedures
Digitalization is not a magic wand to solve all your problems. In this case, neither the reports from postmasters nor their appeals against false accusations helped in any way. If the UK Post Office's internal policies cannot find out that the “debt” of a postmaster was created by software due to a bug duplicating some transactions then those procedures are insufficient.
Many organizations facing challenges will turn their effort to digitalization first when that should be the last thing to do. Start with rethinking and improving how your organization is managed internally, and only then put a software layer on top. Don’t scale up your mistakes.
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Control the product quality
Controlling quality when buying software or digital transformation services is one of the most challenging parts. You often will have limited access to the creative process, and some degree of trust is always needed, but you still can (and should!) control the quality of what you pay for. Put attention to client-side testing and the legal side of accepting the product and responsibility for errors that occur after the transfer of ownership and live deployment. Pay extra close attention to Service Level Agreements and Maintenance Agreements. Hire your own inside testers. There are many avenues here.
Let me just quote The Guardian here: “One member of the development team, David McDonnell, who had worked on the Epos system side of the project, told the inquiry that “of eight [people] in the development team, two were very good, another two were mediocre, but we could work with them, and then there were probably three or four who just weren’t up to it and weren’t capable of producing professional code.” Would you pay millions of dollars for a product described in such a way? Would you trust that product over the words of people who worked with you for years? I don’t think so. And this is, in the end, the product you could be getting, so it is up to you to safeguard against that.
Final Thoughts
Always start with people, how they work, how they are managed, and what procedures they must adhere to. Any technological advancement you put on top will only amplify what is already there - good or bad. Strive to multiply what is good and not exacerbate what is terrible.
Sources:
UX & Product Designer; Product Designer @ iRonin.IT
1 年This situation shows how easily unnoticed quality issues can impact the most important processes. Also, the process of digitizing/digital transformation is a great time to revise relevant traditional processes as well, giving a chance (and hopefully data) to find any overlooked internal issues in the organization.
Any and every sales transaction is about need vs risk.
1 年I've been on LinkedIn for quite some time, yet this is my first article ever so any feedback will be much appreciated. Thanks!