[SystemSafety] What do we know about software reliability?

[Les Chambers]

Wow
I’m impressed by the sustained passion in this debate. 
It’s been raging for decades . I recall similar exchanges from 20 years ago when 
a project I was working on emptied out the V&V research group of a university 
department and put them to work on a SIL 2 rail project. The newly minted 
academics insisted you could put a figure on the reliability of software. They 
were met with peals of laughter by hardened players in the real world systems 
development community. Outrageous fortune and years of exposure to size and 
complexity wore them down and they surrendered.
For what it’s worth my view after 46 years in the business is that reliability is an 
attribute of an organisation not a software or systems product. The best process  
in the world is useless if the fleshware is not inclined to follow it. Trusted system 
is a misnomer. Customers buy from trusted organisations. An organisation is 
worthy of trust when it is populated by trustworthy people.

Maybe it’s my age but everywhere I look I see Shakespeare. So when your 
customer walks in the door think only this:
He is here in double trust
First as I am his Kingsmen and his subject. Strong both against the deed, then 
as his host. Who should against his murderer shut the door. Not bear the knife 
myself.

Les


> Thierry,
> 
> Try: Edward N. Adams, ‘Optimizing preventive service of software
> products’, IBM J. of Research and Development 28(1): 2-14, 1984.
> 
> Are there any such theory papers lining defect density to hardware
> reliability?
> 
> Martyn
> 
> On 15/09/2020 17:31, Coq, Thierry wrote:
> > Is there any scientific paper linking defect density to frequency of
> > failure?



--
Les Chambers
les at chambers.com.au
+61 (0)412 648 992