Case Study: George and the Jet

George Babbage is an experienced software developer working for Acme Software Company. Mr. Babbage is now working on a project for the U.S. Department of Defense, testing the software used in controlling an experimental jet fighter. George is the quality control manager for the software. Early simulation testing revealed that, under certain conditions, instabilities would arise that could cause the plane to crash. The software was patched to eliminate the specific problems uncovered by the tests. After these repairs, the software passed all the simulation tests.

George is not convinced that the software is safe. He is worried that the problems uncovered by the simulation testing were symptomatic of a design flaw that could only be eliminated by an extensive redesign of the software. He is convinced that the patch that was applied to remedy the specific tests in the simulation did not address the underlying problem. But, when George brings his concerns to his superiors, they assure him that the problem has been resolved. They further inform George that any major redesign effort would introduce unacceptable delays, resulting in costly penalties to the company.

There is a great deal of pressure on George to sign off on the system and to allow it to be flight tested. It has even been hinted that, if he persists in delaying the system, he will be fired.

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From Don Gotterbarn and Keith W. Miller. 2004. Computer ethics in the undergraduate curriculum: case studies and the joint software engineer’s code. J. Comput. Sci. Coll. 20, 2 (December 2004), 156–167.