At Southwest Airlines it’s still 1981 ... a story about technical debt

 Remember 1981?

One of the most advanced computers from 1981

The Internet was just coming to life at a few universities. The main communication tool we had back then was the (landline) telephone. These days the phones are mobile, but if the system is still from the 1980s or even the 1990s then phone calls are still the primary tool.

Southwest Airlines had its technical debt come home to roost last week, its brittle scheduling systems unable to cope with the bomb cyclone that scrambled air travel across the U.S. last week.

I have had the experience of being on hold for Way Too Long waiting to talk to an airline (or bank employee or medical scheduler) but the Southwest employees themselves have were left on hold for hours trying just to tell the management where they wound up.

This debacle is costing Southwest millions of dollars not to mention loss of an immeasurably valuable business asset they’ve built up over the years: loyalty and affection from the legions of satisfied customers they have had over the decades. Last week a lot of it went up in smoke:

How's your technical debt doing? This should keep some executives up at night ...