The 2022 holiday season meltdown of Southwest Airlines’ scheduling system brings into focus the danger of relying on the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Following that rule religiously leaves you vulnerable to unexpected happenstance.
I have several years’ experience writing software for enterprises. One rule often followed in this industry states, “If the software system ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.” This rule is stated to curb the tendency of software developers to try re-writing legacy software. I can understand the sentiment and as a developer I also understand the developer’s desire to either improve or replace all software systems with something that is new, or use newer technology or techniques, etc. However, a situation that wasn’t conceived of before, such as the winter storm that hit major airports during the holiday season, which is always one of the highest travel periods, resulted in Southwest’s meltdown.
A major contributor to this disaster was Southwest Airlines’ reliance on an old software scheduling system. I haven’t worked for Southwest Airlines, however from what I’ve read they haven’t updated their schedule system in an exceedingly long time. So long as life gives you good weather or at least weather that isn’t too far out of the norm, your flight staff are adequate and available, in other words, so long as you follow the happy path, everything works. But from my experience if agencies put too much reliance upon old systems and don’t bother to upgrade or improve them, then when other factors start to happen, like severe weather, flight staff not being available for whatever reasons, etc., all those factors will defeat the contingencies prepared for.
I am sure that the Southwest Airlines flight staff, ground crews, etc. all came together as best they could to restore service. More power to you folks!
There is an issue of upgrading, improving, or replacing older systems. It’s an unpleasant fact that upgrading/improving/replacing every system is expensive. In fact, very expensive. Here’s where applying the Pareto rule (the 80 – 20 rule) comes into play. Instead of trying to replace everything, identifying those systems which are more likely than other systems to contribute to a catastrophic failure pays dividends. I know very well that cutting down on technical debt doesn’t add value to the bottom line. However, any organization, as it continues to survive and thrive, as I’m sure Southwest Airlines will, accumulates technical debt. But removing technical debt is like losing weight by going to the gym. It prepares you for future, unforeseen circumstances that continuing to gain weight will inevitably result in.
Doctor Who 