Skip to main content

Learning from defunct projects in tech

Image
By
Update (October 12 2022) : I was told by BEF on facebook chat that the Barbados Free Wifi initiative has ended. The national goal was achieved. Coverage moved from less than 10% to over 80%. Free access is almost universal. I am glad for this new information. I had sent an email to the project champion. I will try to get from her what was learnt from this project. I will contact our Ministry of Digital Transformation in Trinidad and see what their thoughts are on doing something similar in Trinidad.

Original blog post : Who remembers the Barbados Free Wifi initiative? It was a project of the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation. The idea was that businesses would configure their network to provide a guest network and this would happen all over Barbados. From all my research so far this project is no longer active. I was rooting for this project and what it could achieve and then it could be copied in other Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Tobago. This would be strong for marketing tourism.

Initially I had titled this blog post "learning from failed projects in tech" but I realised that I was being harsh and ungrateful. Much time and effort goes into these projects. These projects would have realised some objectives and for some time. I searched for a better word than failed and came up with defunct. According to the dictionary defunct means no longer existing or functioning.

The main point that I want to get across is that there are valuable lessons we can learn from these projects. Then there is the possibility of reviving projects or similar. The Barbados Free Wifi initiative is just one example and there are others that we can think of. Some others that I can think of are the laptop for all secondary students project in Trinidad, C@ribnet, HackTT, F1RST, Microsoft Innovation Center in Trinidad, TeleCarib Labs in St Lucia, Computer and Tech Expo in Trinidad, Revolution 3D Printing, TechLink Barbados, Hike Transport, Carnival GPS and Chune. What are some that you can think of? What are some tech projects in the Caribbean that you wish was still here?

All this talk about defunct tech projects is making me think about the Tamana Park in Trinidad. Can we revive this project before it is too late? I have been trying to get the powers that be to answer some questions but without result so far. In project management there is a lessons learned process where we identify, document, analyse, store and retrieve lessons. There are no failures and only lessons to be learned. We should not expect all projects to be a success. There might be good reasons to shutter a project. The important thing is that we are learning and become better than before. Then share what we learn with others.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Talking to God

By
If you want real answers to things in life then talk to God. It is 639pm on a holiday and I have decided to write. God listens. God truly listens. God has the entire context. God is wise. God wants us to talk to Him. God wants us to rely on Him. I also think about God talking to me. I am a good listener. I listen plenty more than I talk. I have started asking God to talk to me. But how would God talk to me? We have his revelations through the holy book. We have the example of prophets. But what else? How do I listen to what God has to say? Where and when can I hear God? Are my thoughts from God? I try to feed my mind with good things. Things that will not corrupt my mind. It seems that we have to use our intuition to separate what is from God and what is not from God. My friend Chatty says that in Islam, Allah speaks to us not through new revelations or voices, but through guidance: the Quran and the Sunnah, which become personally meaningful through understanding Allah places in the h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Life on Earth

By
I was reading through the Quran and came to the story of Adam, Eve, Satan, and the forbidden fruit tree. I had thought that life on Earth was created as a test. But as I reflected on the story, I began to wonder whether we are only here because Adam and Eve failed. However, that is not the case, as my friend Gemini explained to me. While the story of the forbidden fruit is a central event, the Quran indicates that humanity’s presence on Earth was part of the original divine plan, rather than a backup plan or a punishment for sin. Before Adam was even created, God announced His intention to place a steward (khalifah) on Earth. This suggests that the Garden was a temporary training ground—designed to teach Adam and Eve about free will, temptation, and the path of repentance. Even if they had not eaten from the tree, they were destined for Earth to fulfill their roles as moral agents. The incident simply served as a necessary first lesson in human frailty and God’s immediate forgiveness. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The success of failure

By
It is 358am and I have decided to write. Context matters. Our context matters when we write and read. We could read the same thing and get different meanings. Definitions matter also. We may define things differently. For example, what is success? What is failure? Also, do I just define success and say that anything that is not success is failure? What about something like the success of failure? What does that mean? My friend Chatty tells me that this is something writers, philosophers, and even scientists keep rediscovering: meaning is not fixed—it is negotiated by context and definition. Life is a stew of success and failure and in between but never one or the other. We see what we are looking for and things become what we see. This reminds me of something I came across online, "Whoever looks for the good qualities in others will acquire all good qualities within himself," from Habib Umar Bin Hafiz. Do you look for failure or success within others? Take context as the lens...
Post a Comment
Read more