Posts Tagged "risk"

The observer effect or when measuring quality improves quality

Posted by Juan Pablo Tejela on Oct 15, 2012 in Quality metrics, Software quality | 3 comments

In physics and computer science there is principle known as the “Observer effect”, which is in fact a simplification of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle or like the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics refuted by Schrödinger’s cat. Basically, it says that when you try to measure one or more states of a system the measuring itself affect either the state you are measuring or the others. In computer science, for example, when you want to know what an Application is doing you can log that information in a file –the infamous log files–, this produces a slowdown in the processing of the application –slower the more information you log– and even increase the risk of having an i/o error on the log file.

Technical debt can be interest rate free… but never risk free

Posted by Javier Salado on Feb 24, 2012 in Economics, From the editor, Technical debt | 0 comments

In my last post, If the interest rate is 0%, do you want to pay back your debt?, I blathered on technical debt and how it can be (under some circumstances) interest rate free.

Robert Treat wrote an interesting article commenting on it, Intrest free (technical) debt is risky

He is right, you have to take your exposure to risk into account. Risk is an intrinsic characteristic of any kind of debt. And is an important one, entire European countries’ economies are struggling because of the risk exposure of their debt (financial this time).