...and without any inside knowledge, it looks to me like those higher up on the food chain -- starting with Sebelius and Obama -- did not have any previous experience overseeing large software projects, so did not truly understand the pitfalls with such projects. That makes it a lot easier for the next layer down to handwave and otherwise obscure the truth about where things stand; and it makes it harder for the top people to get at the truth because they don't know what questions to ask, nor do they recognize red flags that may be right in front of them.
I know it sounds vague, but anyone who has been involved in a large software development project will know what I'm talking about. There are technical issues at every level, lots of dependencies, and for a system like this there are huge integration issues. That means not only a big development effort, but there must be a lot of effort put into testing: integration testing, stress testing, performance testing, functionality testing...
It looks to me like the primary failure areas were system architecture, system integration and project management. Proper project management for a system of this size is an absolute requirement. Proper project management puts the spotlight on problem areas and dependencies that are not being met -- IOW it would raise the red flags early and often, identify problem areas and address them early in the cycle rather than after the product has been released.
All of this, of course, is easier said than done. But again, from my vantage point, it appears that the people at the top did not have the appropriate experience with large software development, and probably accepted handwave explanations from their technical people without even knowing it was handwaving. JMNSHO.
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