In this episode of Beneficial Intelligence, I discuss how to choose what is good enough.
How do you know when something is good enough? That requires good judgment, which is unfortunately in short supply.
IT used in aviation, pharma, and a few other life-and-death industries are subject to strict standards. We can lean on standards like the GxP requirements that anyone in the pharma industry loves to hate. However, in the general IT industry, we have lots of standards, but none of them are mandatory. That's why each week seems to bring a new horror story of an organization that believed their IT was good enough and found out it wasn't.
Southwest Airlines learned that first-hand this week. On Monday, they couldn't fly because the connection to their weather data provider was down. On Tuesday, they couldn't fly because the connection from airports to the central reservation system was down. If you don't know who is supposed to be on the plane, you can't fly. They ended up canceling more than 800 flights over two days.
Obviously, the CIO of Southwest Airlines decided that a single network was good enough. That can be a valid business decision. But you need to make a full comparison. On one side is the cost of redundant network connections and data sources. On the other side is the loss resulting from canceling 800 flights and delaying thousands more. This outage probably cost them around $20 million. If you believe the risk of a $20 million network outage is 0.1%, standard risk calculation says you can only spend $20,000 to avoid it. But if the risk of an outage is 5%, it is worth spending $1 million on redundant connections or other alternatives.
Everybody in your IT organization who makes major architectural decisions have to know what constitutes "good enough." There might be hard regulatory requirements about data security, privacy, and access control. But there are also judgment calls based on estimates of risk probability and impact. As CIO or CTO, it is your job to teach your organization how to determine what is good enough.
Beneficial Intelligence is a weekly podcast with stories and pragmatic advice for CIOs, CTOs, and other IT leaders. To get in touch, please contact me at sten@vesterli.com
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.