Here is a video of an interview conducted in England with a consultant who worked for British Columbia when the Campbell and Clark governments were awarding information technology contracts.
His work was much admired by BC Liberals because it fit their style of conducting public business.
The B.C. government’s $182-million computer system just won’t work
B.C. not alone in bungling computer projects
B.C. $250 million over budget on $842 million health computer project
IT Outsourcing 2016/17, Paul Ramsay
If you enjoyed the video of John Bird and John Fortune (The Long Johns), you can find more on YouTube. This is one of my favourites:
Categories: Smile
in-sights.ca 
John Calvert’s book is available here:
https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/liquid-gold
LikeLike
Yesterday the Vancouver Sun reported on “the financial woes that the (BC) Liberals left behind at (BC) Hydro, including those rooted in overpriced contracts with independent power producers”.
http://vancouversun.com/news/politics/vaughn-palmer-under-ndp-b-c-hydro-backs-off-independent-power-deals
John Calvert was warning about this huge problem in 2007 with his book “Liquid Gold.”
Horse has left the barn.
LikeLike
http://vancouversun.com/news/politics/bc-hydro-halts-new-independent-power-project-deals-pending-review
LikeLike
We as Canadians tend not to believe others that have systems that work. We must reinvent the wheel each time at great expense. This is a sign of paranoia and insanity,There must be computer systems in place that have been tried and used somewhere in the world that are sound and stable and will meet our needs. I have questions that should be answered. 1,Those in government that are the overseers that go down this road without any quarantined control to control costs should be found responsible and dealt with, 2. All existing systems that are available worldwide and ready for use should be explored first before going down this rabbit hole. 3. If a new system is required because of a lack of an already proven system, then controls must be guaranteed to stop these cost overruns. This present methodology of updating and getting into the current century is an open door to abuse. Unless this carnage is stopped government, and all its trappings, with fall further and further into disrepute until we fall into the darkness like our neighbours to the south.
Robert F Tritschler
LikeLike
Computer specialist Paul Ramsay argues this:
“For reasons that escape my understanding, IT managers hate programming. They gravitate readily towards “off the shelf” solutions, pieces of software than can be purchased, easily installed and set up, and left to run. This makes sense for well-understood pieces of functionality, like word processors and spreadsheets.
“Where things start to go sideways is when “off the shelf” mania spreads into more and more murky problem spaces. As “off the shelf” solutions become more generic, they require substantial “configuration” stages before they can be left to run. (Astute cynics will note that “off the shelf” solutions always require “configuration” and never need “programming”.)…”
http://blog.cleverelephant.ca/2012/06/more-icm.html
LikeLike