Many large companies depend on software. They often have staffs of thousands of people using the best methods and project management techniques, supported by professional HR departments and run by serious, experienced software management professionals. They can afford to pay up so that they get the best people. Why is it, then, that after all these years, they still can't build software that works?
Some of these giants recognize that they can't build software. So they buy it instead! Surely with careful judging and the ability to pay for the best, they can at least slap their logo on top-grade software, right? Sadly, the facts lead us to respond ... not right.
What company doesn't want to be part of the digital revolution and have an app? If you're a major health insurance company, why wouldn't you replace old-fashioned insurance cards with something always up-to-date that comes on an app?
As an Anthem customer, I can see that they've gotten with the program. I got this email from them:
An app, huh? Why is it called Sydney? First, let's keep it simple. They say I can now download a digital version of my ID card, so let's try that first.
I clicked on the link, which brought me to the main Anthem login. I logged in. What I expected was normal website behavior, a deep link to the right page, but having to login before getting there. This "exotic" technique, standard practice for over a decade with websites that care about their users, was beyond the professionals at Anthem. After logging in, I got to my profile. Where's my digital card?? I guess it's one of their intelligence and mental status tests, where they count the clicks and the time it takes for you to get where you're going.
Hoping to succeed, I scrolled down in the Profile section and hit gold. I saw this:
That wasn't too hard! Mobile ID cards! Let's see.
Nothing about seeing it, printing it or emailing it. Just an option to turn off getting a physical card in the mail, and a casual mention (with no link, of course) to "our Engage mobile app." What happened to Sydney??
I thought I had gotten through the usual Anthem obstacle course in record time. Nope. Dead End. There are a lot of people these days screaming about how bad disinformation is and how it needs to be stopped. Hey, guys, over here....!
Back to the home page. Look at all the menus. Check all the drop-down lists. Under "My Plans" there's something called "ID Cards." Bingo! An image of our cards, front and back, with options to print, email, etc. as promised!
Nothing about an app, Engage, Sydney or anything else.
Alright, Anthem, I've had enough of your website. Let me go to the Play Store and check out Sydney. Here's what they say it is:
Sounds pretty good, right? What can it do? Let's see:
Seems like it can do HUGE amounts of stuff! Let's keep going.
OK, I've got it. Maybe "Engage" is something Anthem's own army of programmers built. Maybe it was crap and management decided to buy some best-of-breed software. Makes sense. Perhaps some of the hundreds of programmers no longer working on Engage can be assigned to update the website and make it kinda sorta accurate and usable, you think?
No doubt Anthem management exercised great care to assure that CareMarket did a great job and was giving them a proven app that customers loved so that when it went out named Sydney, Anthem's reputation would go up. Let's see the reviews:
Over 2,600 reviews. That line by the "1" rating is pretty darn long. Looks longer than 2 to 5 added up. I guess Anthem had trouble threatening enough of their employees into giving 5 star reviews to get the job done, right?
Let's sample a couple of reviews. Here's the top one when I looked:
"This is the worst app I've ever encountered." Error messages. Failed searches. There's a response from the vendor:
Hey guys, she already gave you "a brief description." Do you test your software? Give it to normal people to try before inflicting it on your innocent, unsuspecting customers? Skimming down, I see that pretty much the same response is given to every each tale of woe. Pathetic.
Here's a sample of other reviews:
Get the general drift...?
This app has been downloaded 500,000 times!! The pain and frustration Anthem is causing is hard to fathom. Why is anyone at Anthem involved with Sydney still employed there? Silly question. Did anyone lose their job after the giant hack at Anthem and the catastrophically bad response to it that I've described?
Maybe they should hire people from the big tech companies to do stuff like this. Those people really know how to build great software! Uhhhh, not so much. Here is specifically about Facebook's app. For more see this and this and this.
This big-company software effort is bad beyond belief. I can't comprehend how it is that they pay people big bucks and come out with stuff like this. From what I can tell, though, governments are in close competition for the "prize" of doing the worst job of building and managing software. It's like there's a competition. See this and this.
The whole world is up in arms about the pandemic. Big powerful people and organizations are taking it seriously and making changes with the intention of fixing the problem. When it comes to the software pandemic, however, everyone just whistles and waltzes along like there's no problem. Everyone just expects and accepts awfulness, acting like it's just how life is.
It doesn't have to be this way.
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