[trustable-software] The Elephant In the Elevator Pitch

[Paul Sherwood]

Thanks all for the feedback.

The 'circular argument' point is fair, but I think it's relatively 
easily addressed - for example:

"If the elevator that we are in were to fall and crash into the floor 
due to mechanical or civil engineering failure, our families and friends 
would expect that subsequently it would be possible to establish what 
had gone wrong, which standards and laws were broken, and who was 
accountable.

If the same accident were to happen as a result of problems in software 
controlling a fleet of elevators in a building, it is  extremely 
unlikely that we could establish what regulations applied, let alone who 
was accountable.

Almost all high-tech elevator pitches in recent decades have been built 
on immature software industry practices which are unregulated and 
provide no evidence to justify our trust. The Trustable Software project 
is working with engineering, legal, compliance and insurance communities 
to establish a broadly useful framework for evidence-based assessment of 
the risks associated with creation and use of critical software."

My own concerns about this specific "pitch" are different, though:

1) while I do think it's an attention-grabber, is the reflexive 
'elevator' example too joky for our topic?

2) by focusing on an accident/safety example do we risk creating the 
wrong impression? our scope is broader than that, after all.

br
Paul