Published April 3rd, 2003 by Jim O'Halloran
Operation Upgrade
A large whiteboard covered one wall, scrawled with dozens of detailed tasks assigned to individual specialists. Project managers stood by, checking off each brief according to a precise timeline.
The entire banking system was off limits to outsiders for the next six hours; insiders kept in mind a back-up plan to go into reverse in case of failure.
It looked like the scene of a military operation. In fact, it was the bank’s first systems upgrade for the year.
The Sydney Morning Herald has an article on a bank systems upgrade. A bit long on drama, and short on details, but its interesting to see the sort of planning they put into these sorts of things. Of course most of this should be pretty obvious to anyone who’s been around the industry for a while.