Is this world ready for Year 2000 problems? or Are you ready?

A seemingly harmless 2-digit register of year (instead of 4 digits) used as date-count or timer, somehow can create a monstrous nightmare or Frankeinstein, to a large extend un-imaginable, as our modern world is embedded with billions or countless electronic chips with date and time functions. There maybe sufficient publicity on the threats due to millennium bugs or Year 2000 Problems - affecting our daily life like utilities & food supply, health services, traffic control, investment etc. to sophisticated system in industries, transportation, missile, nuclear facilities etc.

Is 1999 to 2000 a transitional year of purging? A big shake up to the world? A repeated message of how human being must increase their capacity to learn to fully understand the meaning of co-existence, inter-dependency and inter-connectivity in this Global Village?

If something does happen, is this world ready for the problems that could be created by the millennium bugs? or, are YOU ready?

What are needed to be ready for Year 2000 problems?

We will examine what human action and thinking required as preparation before making conclusion / speculation as to whether we are in the state of readiness or not?

An entity can be an organisation, business, family, industry, etc. that make up of people, system and technology. The required "Action" typically focuses on hardware components in the entity that have embedded electronic chips and programming software that deal with time. A simple entity like a typical family house may involve TV, clocks, microwave oven etc. But an entity with sophisticated complex system like chemical plant, airline, financial institutions, power supply etc. may involve thousands and millions of components. Depending on the criticality and severity of these components, they need to be tracked; assessed the relevancy; remedial action taken like fixing, replacing, testing; collaborating and negotiating with hundred of vendors, suppliers to these identified components.

All these further require many quality attributes like top management commitment, resources and budget, professionalism, integrity of personnel involved, teamwork across many departmental boundaries of typical hierarchical organisation, good business relationship with the suppliers / vendors, knowledge and competency of the personnel involved in these Y2K-components management, not only in the technical field, but also skills in human relationship handling.

Assuming that the above "Action" is well taken, i.e. the entity does have all the quality attributes of a "good organisation", the maturity of the "Entity Thinking" is the next logical step on Contingency Plan. This is in recognition of the fact that whatever best endeavour taken in the "Action" process, there is always potential error / mistake made by human being. Hence the thinking focus is : "What if something still goes wrong?" "What backup system we have?" "What plan can be put in place in case such and such negative scenario occurs?". "If other entities fail, how could we be affected? and how we further affect other parties?"

Ideally, as a responsible community member or citizen, the "Entity Thinking" on contingency plan should not focused merely on business continuity, or minimum disruption to the production of goods or services , but also what possible hazards, suffering can be inflicted to people, environment, or inconvenience to the life of users / stakeholders.

The required quality attributes for this "Entity Thinking and Contingency Plan" can be a listful, like Policy of the entity (e.g. any comprise between business policy like making money, with the policy on Health Safety Environment and Community), commitment, resources, knowledge, techniques and skills of organiser to get the best brains from their organisation and related stakeholders for such thinking process, the inevitable teamwork requirement, the necessary testing or drill of such contingency plans, courageous announcement of such plan to all the stakeholders (i.e. not only own staff but outsiders who may be affected) for their mental readiness / preparedness / participation.

The above listed few quality attributes on Action and Thinking of an Entity as minimum preparation of the Y2K problems, are usually "additional work and commitment" in many organisations, due to many constraining factors, other commitments and especially during this economic difficult time.

In view of the above, you (as the reader of this homepage article) are to make your own observation and assessment of your organisation, your own environment / community / society, whether such entities exhibit some of the quality attributes. If you are the one who is still not too clear what and why Y2K problem, besides the obvious fact that you are ignorant, it also means that the community or society at large in which you are a part, has not exerted any influence on awareness on you. If you have sufficient awareness of the problem, do you feel the assurance and re-assurance from the various entities "Action and Thinking" on Y2K that may affect you life in one way or another? To what extend are you satisfied with the assurance : a standard letter or newspaper announcement? or some demonstration, extra measures, community -like behaviour instead of just business-like behaviour?

Action and Thinking of Inter-related Entities:

The necessary preparation steps by an entity by no means is simple and easy, especially those having complex system, sophisticated technology and human dynamics. And there are a great diversity of entities in any modern society : industries, infra-structure, transportation, tele-communication, financial institutions, power / utilities supply, public services etc. etc. All these entities are also made up of group of people i.e. human beings : with all their intelligence or lack of use of it, wisdom or stupidity, professionalism or mediocrity, community spirit or own business thinking, system thinking or individualistic thinking, common goal-seeking or private agenda pursuit, etc. etc. A mixture and blend of the good, the bad and the ugly - a familiar scene of human behaviour.

With the multitudes of entities, that make up a society or the world, no educated person will dispute the inter-connectivities, inter-dependencies and inter-relationship of these entities. Action or In-acton, Thinking or No-Thinking of entities can have tremendous impact on each other and this fragile world. Using a larger model, i.e. to treat these entities as components that may have inherent millennium bugs acting like time bomb, are there Structures to manage these entities? Or, are these entities left on their own to manage themselves as per above "Action and Thinking of an Entity".

On comparison, United Nations is a Structure with the objective of ensuring no more world war, a reactive action to previous two world wars. Nevertheless, a structure with good intention, irrespective of whether it is effective or not. Is there such equivalent Structure on a global scene on combating Year 2000 Problems? Are the world leaders pre-occupied with Year 2000 Problems with collective effort, or other problems?

In the local scene, your own community, is there such Structure equivalent to local council or authority governing the public services, housing etc. focusing on Y2K problems? Have you witnessed, observed and experienced such "Action and Thinking of a Structure representing diversity of entities" looking seriously into the millennium bugs.

Is this world ready for Year 2000 problems? or Are you ready?

Or, you continue to think that it is not a serious problem, life can more or less carry on as usual? Or, is it like a monk thinking : as long as I cover my ears, the knocking at the bell produces no disturbing sound to the world!? Or is every body acting like the monk?

End.