The Lessons from History Series Author, Creator and Speaker

Biography Resume Great Escape Interview  in September 2007 General Interview  in August 2005 Churchill's Adaptive Enterprise Interview  in July 2005 Titanic lessons for IT Projects Interview in September 2002 Articles By author notably multi-part series on Gantthead Avoiding Project Disaster: Titanic Lessons for IT Executives; Reviewer Tim Lalonde from Ontario Canada: "Being a history buff, I was intrigued with a book that could link a historic non-IT project with modern so-called new wave online IT projects. I was not disappointed, it clearly demonstrated the more things change, the more they become the same. The flow was pragmatic, thorough and easy to follow. The language was geek free and informs the reader on what they should expect from their deliverables and why they are needed. More importantly why certain decisions are made and their overall impact on any project. In the end, the book clearly demonstrates, through the Titanic reference, that it is rarely a single decision that creates the failure but a series of smaller seemingly unrelated decisions that cause us to fail. Failing to plan does cause your plan to fail. I would recommend this book to any NON-IT person, and any IT professional who is about undertake a project that does involve Information Technology." Avoiding Project Disaster: Titanic Lessons for IT Executives; Reviewer Tony Tolleson (The Colony, TX United States) "The use of historical reminders to present to readers some very practical lessons is both entertaining and insightful. The author has me looking forward to his next book in this "Lessons from History" series. A great value most of us in the IT industry can get from this book is the large number of practical reminders that (without the proper foundation) it is too easy to lose focus on the details that count and the result is often a failed project. Used properly, this book can help project management and participants "steer clear" of potential disaster."

About the Lessons from History Author Mark Kozak-Holland is a Senior Consultant and certified in the Consultant Profession. He specializes in helping organizations evaluate how emerging technologies can impact their business. Mark puts a different spin on complex business problems by applying lessons from history. He has written several books, as part of the Lessons-from-History series, which use relevant historical case studies to examine how projects and emerging technologies of the past solved complex problems. Mark is very passionate about history and believes it has great relevance in business today. A good analogy helps to simplify, frame and put today's complex projects into context. It builds up a better understanding and enhances reader retention. "I wanted to help business people take advantage of these historical analogies." MKH Mark sees the lesson-from-history series potentially as an education tool in business today. Specifically, for organizations applying today's Information Technology (IT) to common business problems. It is written for primarily business and IT professionals looking for inspiration for their projects, and how to increase the probability of project success. "This book is a great read for savvy Business Managers. No, it's a compelling history book. No, it is an excellent demonstration of Leadership Style. No, it is a complete Information Technology methodology, in the guise of a chameleon. I reviewed this book this Fall, and (full disclosure) provided some sound bites for the publisher. However, I would not have done so if I had not enjoyed this book so much. This “Back to Our Future” book does a stellar job of mining the project intelligence from Lessons Learned. It cites not just common practice, not just best practice, but First Practice of methods underlying today’s most successful projects." Book Review of Churchill's Adaptive Enterprise by Stacy Goff, PMP After many years of consulting Mark was compelled to start writing for several reasons. First, he believed many of the experiences he had with projects were unique. Many were related to mission critical solutions that straddled  into post-implementation. Very few project books focus on the project aftermath and the operation after the implementation. Second,  his passion for history gave a good insight into where similar things had been done before, and where something could be learned. Third, most books on IT or projects struggle to hold a readers attention for more than 10 minutes, the subject can be very dry. This approach injects some imagination, passion and inspiration. "I have always been passionate about history and have never understood why it has been somewhat underplayed by modern culture. I believe history has enormous relevance in business today." MKH Contact Information For bookings of Mark for speaking events, workshops, seminars, conferences, and rights relating to his publications. Please call Mark at (905)-206-4263 or mark.kozak-holl@sympatico.ca “I found the presentation extremely interesting and very entertaining. Using the Titanic as the subject matter and drawing analogies between today's challenges and the past was very effective. It re-enforced that no matter how much technologies advance over time, business in the past face the same issues and opportunities as the present. The presentation also supported the importance of team communication, openness and integrity. When you come down to it, managing relationships and individual styles is paramount to project success. If you create an atmosphere where one person dominates, you run the risk of shutting others down. This strengthens the position that project managers must also demonstrate leadership (people) and management (project tasks) skills. We definitely want to avoid the Ice Bucket test results and behaviour. Thank you for a great presentation!” KW

This page last updated on January 16, 2008.

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