From Wired Magazine: The Formula That Killed Wall Street

Road Map for Financial Recovery: Radical Transparency Now!
A year ago, it was hardly unthinkable that a math wizard like David X. Li might someday earn a Nobel Prize. After all, financial economists—even Wall Street quants—have received the Nobel in economics before, and Li’s work on measuring risk has had more impact, more quickly, than previous Nobel Prize-winning contributions to the field. Today, though, as dazed bankers, politicians, regulators, and investors survey the wreckage of the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression, Li is probably thankful he still has a job in finance at all.


In the mid-80s, Wall Street turned to the quants—brainy financial engineers—to invent new ways to boost profits. Their methods for minting money worked brilliantly... until one of them devastated the global economy. Photo: Jim Krantz/Gallery Stock
In the mid-'80s, Wall Street turned to the quants—brainy financial engineers—to invent new ways to boost profits. Their methods for minting money worked brilliantly... until one of them devastated the global economy. Photo: Jim Krantz/Gallery Stock

Some people see this article in the current issue of Wired Magazine as being about David Lee and a formula. Me, I see this article as a discussion of the state of testing and quality assurance in the professional services world.

I have spent decades delivering software solutions to business. If there is a recurring theme, it is that when timeline or budget is under pressure, testing is the first thing to be reduced.

Check out the article by clicking on the pic or here. What do you think?

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