Tragedy of Smolensk- Parallels with Software Projects

We were all shocked with the tragic accident that victimized some of the most distinguished Polish personalities. I have been closely following the facts that were so far revealed, and, as a Software Engineer, I cannot avoid finding many similarities between this sad accident and many unsuccessful software projects.

• We had a plane full of people with busy schedules and tight deadlines, aiming to attend an event but wanting to loose as little time as possible in the journeys. Reminds me a project with plenty of managers and business people with very demanding deadlines, imposing tight targets which are often close to impossible.

• The plane was old and missing much of the technology which is available on any Airbus or Boeing. Such gap was well known but nothing was done due to budget limitations. Reminds me a project where the targets are ambitious but developers are not given the necessary tools. Managers know that such tools are a mandatory condition for success, but there is never enough budget.

• The safety of the plane and everyone inside it was in the hands of the pilot. Considering most of the people inside the plane, the pilot was probably the one having the smaller salary, and working under more stressful conditions. In any traditional project the final outcome is in the hands of developers, which are traditionally less paid than managers or business people, and have to work late hours under a considerable amount of stress.
• Even though the weather conditions were hard, and the traffic controllers advised the pilot to land in alternative airport, the pilot continued trying to land in Smolensk. Reminds me developers breaking good practices and guidelines in order to try to deliver and to satisfy impossible timings.
• We know that presidential flights are normally assigned to the best pilots so I am sure that the quality of the pilot is not questionable. Nevertheless there are rumors that indicate that he was pressed to land in Smolensk due to the tight schedule of the Polish president. Reminds me developers which are forced to perform irresponsible tasks against their own will simply to satisfy the utopian agenda of management and business.
• I might be wrong, but I guess that History will mark this accident as caused by a pilot's mistake. In most of the unsuccessful projects the blame ends up at the developer´s plate. They are the ones not delivering on time, or delivering something that does not work, so who else should we blame? Like it happened with the airplane pilot, no one cares about the context that triggered the accident, we simply choose the easiest target.

More and more we live in a society which is driven by impossible goals, and we all are forced to excel to a level where risks are very high. This kind of sad events should make us reflect, and to question our attitude towards the goals that we force into ourselves and into the ones that surround us.