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research in the banking industry involves identifying the critical
elements and capabilities of the technology under study and then
modeling them in context. In the case of Norwest, Mr. Teixeira
found that the work was intended to deploy a production system, not
to provide information or identify the elements of technology.
Mr. Teixeira distinguished experimentation from the testing
performed by Norwest. He asserted that experimentation addresses
the issue of how to achieve a goal, whereas testing shows whether
the goal has been reached. In this regard, he stated that most
banks perform feasibility experiments which ask the question "can
it be done at all?". However, at trial, Mr. Teixeira testified
that these experiments also involved questions of whether the goal
can be achieved given certain constraints in the business
environment.
Finally, Mr. Teixeira attributed much of the inability of
Norwest to complete its projects on time and within budget to
management issues, not technical difficulties or risk. He defined
technical risk as the probability that the chosen technological
architecture combined with the user's determined features,
functions, and volumes would not go into production. He believed,
that on a percentage basis a 10- to 20-percent chance of failure
would constitute technical risk. And with respect to Norwest's
60(...continued)
question); and (3) applying the resulting information to other
projects (e.g., to implement or not).
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