Lessons From the Past that Assist the Projects of Today to Shape the World of Tomorrow

Recent News Recent Events Recent Event Photos Upcoming Events Hoffman Award 2006 Projects are generally recognized as the best way to accomplish objectives outside of normal operations. Throughout history humans have planned and run projects to achieve objectives. These are recognized today by the remarkable outputs or deliverables that are still with around. One only has to look at the wonders of the ancient world to appreciate the scope of these projects. But how do these projects of the past differ to those of today? How were the projects run? How were the project teams organized? How were they led? What rules of thumb did they follow? Was there a methodology in place? Over the centuries humans kept pushing the limits of what is feasible exemplified by great construction projects. Read on to better understand the project lessons from the past that can help with today's projects, and shape the vision for tomorrow.

"Projects are the lifeblood of any organization." - anon Lessons from History Series Description Written for organizations applying today's emerging technologies to common business problems. The series uses relevant historical case studies to examine how great historical projects and emerging technologies of the past solved complex problems. It then draws comparisons to challenges encountered in today’s projects, and project failures. It even looks at visions of the future taken from the past. "A quarter of the benefits of IT projects are being lost by organizations across the globe because of management failures during a project’s lifecycle..." Source: KPMG International survey, Nov 2005 Can Business Learn from History? For thousands of years people have been planning and running projects that have leveraged emerging technologies of the time, to create unique and wonderful outcomes, structures like the pyramids, buildings, or bridges, or engineering projects to build various machines.  Similarly, people have gone on great expeditions and journeys, and raced their rivals in striving to be first. For example, circumnavigating the world or conquering the poles. These were all forms of projects that required initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing. Important Lessons within Historical Projects Historical projects can contain important lessons that are very relevant to projects today. For example, the sinking of Titanic may seem like an operational disaster but the construction project had a significant impact. The disaster was caused by compromises made during the project design, construction, and testing phases to accommodate various business interests; these compromises reduced the effectiveness of safety systems and provided faulty operational data upon which to base management decisions. While no one could predict that the ship was going to strike ice, the compromises made during the build and launch of the ship almost guaranteed that such a collision was going to be a serious one and result in a catastrophic project failure. Using a historical example illustrates the consequences of seemingly innocuous operational decisions, helping executives avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Lessons from History Series Philosophy The series vividly describes the crucial lessons from historical projects and compares these to today's best practices. It makes the whole learning experience more memorable. The series should inspire the reader as these historical projects were achieved with a lesser (inferior) technology (see more about the benefits). For example, some projects are truly from hell that no one wants to pick up and lead. Yet leaders emerge that not only lead the project but deliver something extraordinary, beyond all reasonable expectations. This happened in May 1940 when Winston Churchill stepped in under tremendous pressure, and took over such a project. Following the disaster at Dunkirk he inspired his nation to continue a fight already considered lost. Not only did he have to stave off an imminent enemy invasion but he had to move the peacetime economy to one that could support a war. He did all this in a project timeline of 5 months. The series examines this as a project, and in what he did, and how he did it as a project manager. Lessons from History Series Audience Primarily business and IT professionals looking for inspiration for their projects. Specifically, Project Managers (PMs) responsible for delivering business solutions through projects, or business managers responsible for solving business problems. "If we think of today's Information Technology as the emerging technology of our time then there are many lessons for businesses today to take from these historical projects." The Characteristics of Historical Projects History shows that most technological developments, or new solutions, are worked out conceptually many years or decades in advance of realization, but can not be fulfilled with the technology of the time.  So the project is literally put aside only to be picked up again when a different emerging technology becomes available. James Burke explored this phenomenon through his “Connections" series. For example, the concepts of a programmable computer were worked out by Charles Babbage as early as 1832 but were not transferred into a successful prototype till the end of the 19th century by Hollerith. Similarly, today many technology projects are not unique, and have parallels to previously tried projects that used different emerging technologies. "Taking hard learned lessons from a 'nuts-and-bolts' historical project and  applying these to  today's IT projects   cuts   away   the  layers of  modern jargon and complexity." Selecting Projects for the Lessons from History Series As part of the selection process for this series numerous historical projects were carefully researched and analyzed. The objective was to determine which were significant in achieving a first. Typically, these were part of a race by competing individuals or organizations. Examination of winners and losers provides a better understanding of the project, the players, and the decisions made which distinguished the project and made it successful. Once selected the series outlines the stages involved in delivering a complex project providing a step-by-step guide to the project deliverables.  Lessons from History Series Author The series is the brainchild of Mark Kozak-Holland.   Mark is very passionate about history and sees its potential use as an education tool in business today. Please feel free to contact Mark to discuss this site, the series philosophy and concepts.

This page last updated on February 18, 2008.

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