Checkout this article, I though you all would find it interesting.
6 Likes
Yep, I just posted about this myself, lol. It’s scary to think how much impact little decisions we make can have.
1 Like
I’m not sure I like that title, but the article brings up a point that we should all be discussing. Many of the comments bring up good counter arguments to blaming the software devs, but it is clear that somewhere along the process of conception to shipping, a very bad UX choice was made that has dramatically impacted the lives of people in Hawaii. We should all be speaking up when we see something wrong even though the person who’s ultimately in charge might not care. That’s where the blame should live. As devs, especially juniors, we can’t always save the day, but we can cover our asses.
1 Like
Maybe the developer coded exactly what the mockup showed…IE it could be the designer’s fault! Or the QA tester’s fault…or the Project Manager. Ultimately, failures like this are team failures. The blame rarely rests on one person.
1 Like
The test warning and real warning were right next to each other and every shift they have to too test. There is no cancel, or like safe check (yes/no).
I wouldn’t suggest putting any sort of password/ code to activate it. We don’t want this to turn into Terminator 3 where they cant send out the warning signal because someone doesn’t know the password. What if only a certain person knew it and was away on vacation>?
If a nuke was heading my way i would just live stream it to YouTube since there is no chance i would survive, or want to live in nuclear fall out.
Presumably the system already has a password on it, so they could just be asked to re-type that. When I delete an app from Heroku, I have to type it’s full name to indicate I really mean it. It could be as simple as popping up a dialogue saying “is there really a missile? y/n”, as long as it looks very different from any of the other dialogues they routinely see.
I cant even sign into my google account without resetting the password sometimes, and one button click can do all this?
well i think there is not much time to lose if it’s a real missile… they could just make a large red button with yes no dialogue or something
Saw this screenshot…
My thoughts:
Whoever developed this UI/program/screen shows absolute no care, no passion, no pride in their work.
Test and Real alerts mixed… in no particular order, or no separation… my goodness, even an HR line separating all tests from real alerts would have made for an improved UI.
I hope these links go to another confirmation screen or pop-up confirm window.
“Are you sure you want to send an alert for Global Thermonuclear War?” A few wasted seconds clicking YES wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway.
1 Like
It seems this isn’t actually the real screen: http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/01/hawaii-distributed-phony-image-of-missile-warning-screen/ ? (I don’t know the reliability of the sources)
What’s a bit odd is that there was also a false alarm in Japan this week: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/japan-sounds-false-alarm-over-north-korean-missile/news-story/4fb279517a6b5c6e0769764f89586037
Conspiratorially minded people might wonder if, in fact, these systems were hacked from outside and the official story is a cover-up.
1 Like
It’s the fault of whoever clicked the wrong link 
all that could-ve been avoided if there was an are you sure button.
Someone could think they pressed test instead of the real thing, so they wouldn’t pay attention. You agree to terms and condiations without reading them.