Note: this content is reposted from my old Google Plus blog, which disappeared when Google took Plus down. It was originally published on 2016-05-16. My views and the way I express them may have evolved in the meantime, and I have likely revisited this investigation in a somewhat more rigorous manner since.
So here I was idly looking at Twitter, when Scott Nickell innocently poked me, regarding one more instance of the old "cost of defects" chestnut:
"I can't tell if this "Systems Sciences Institute at IBM" thing is a new study, or just the same-old."
I was feeling lazy, so I encouraged Scott to apply the usual Leprechaun hunting process: "Here's how you could tell: Google exact phrase for a portion of the article citing it, then note the publication dates of hits." ([Try it](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22cost+to+fix+an+er