So, a few Saturdays ago I'm going through the mail and find a notice from Indiana's Bureau of Motor Vehicles. I open the notice and -- much to my surprise -- learn that my driver's license has been suspended for failure to pay a seat belt violation in Hamilton County (I will resist the urge for my standard libertarian rant about this ill-conceived law.)
Anyway, I was shocked and a little freaked out because I needed to drive somewhere that day (and every day after that.) I remembered getting the ticket, but I also remembered going to the Hamilton County courthouse to pay it. So why was I suspended?
I had to wait until Monday to reach someone at the BMV to find out (resisting the urge for a taxpayer rant about BMV customer service). And after 20 minutes on hold, I learned that I really wasn't suspended. I was told:
"Mr. Harmon, there was a glitch."
That was it. No explanation. No apology. Just "there was a glitch."
As I started to wrap up the telephone call, it occurred to me that this "glitch" might affect more people than just me, so I asked to be transferred to a supervisor who might be able to address the situation. When I finally reached one, she asked me to fax the notice to her and said she'd look into it. Apparently, she didn't look hard enough, because Channel 6's Rafael "You Don't Want Me On Your Doorstep" Sanchez broke the story earlier today that over 600 people were similarly affected by this glitch. That's 600 fellow Hoosiers that had the same disquieting feeling I had on that fateful Saturday afternoon when I received my suspension notice.
Now, as someone who has spent the majority of his career involved with technology, I understand that developing quality information systems can be challenging. Requirements change. Bugs appear. Glitches happen.
It's tough work. But developing a system that shocks over 600 people into thinking their driving privileges are suspended is simply unacceptable. Especially without anything that looks like a sincere apology. BMV spokesman Greg Cook is quoted as saying:
"No excuses. We had a computer system conversion … and the system is a long way from where it was then... We want to make it to where the system is absolutely error-free."
While I applaud his willingness to accept responsibility for the error, are they going to recognize those of us who were affected by it? Trust me, it's not fun to get a notice like that when your driving record is clean.
An apology would certainly go a long way (then again, so would a free registration for my car in 2007). Yet at the time of this post, the most visible link on the BMV website points you to a page that documents the efficiency metrics of their branches! In theory, that's an interesting way of sharing information about their service levels. But in the grand scheme of things, I'd much rather have their computer system NOT SUSPEND ME instead of telling me how long it takes to renew a drivers license at the Nora branch.
One of the key takeaways here is that in the software development world, it can be tempting to try and implement every feature imaginable -- when in reality you really should be focusing on developing very solid core functionality and build up from there. With that in mind, I think I'll send the BMV a few copies of 37Signals' e-book entitled Getting Real. Clearly, they could learn a few lessons from it.
