background to lessons from history series

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Supplementals for the

Lessons From History Series

Introduction

These background materials are provided to further enhance concepts listed in the books.

Project Lessons from the Great Escape (Stalag Luft III)

This book analyzes the efforts of the escape committee through a modern lens, using modern project management methods and the nine knowledge areas of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Learn from the successes and mistakes of a project where people really put their lives on the line. It looks at how under dire circumstances a project was put together and organized.

The supplemental looks at various critical sources used in research of the book related to Allied POWs in the Second World War.

Avoiding Project Disaster: Titanic Lessons for IT Executives

The supplemental looks at the background and history to R.M.S. Titanic, considered by many, including its designers and builders to be an unsinkable ship. With redundant safety systems that used the latest emerging technologies of the day, the ship was considered so safe that it did not even need a full complement of lifeboats. Yet, a collision with an iceberg put an end to the ship on its maiden voyage and led to the deaths of thousands of passengers and crew. The sinking of Titanic is one of the worst maritime disasters ever. Titanic's construction project provides many lessons for IT Executives today, namely, not compromising the design and construction stages and recognizing the difference between functional and non-functional requirements is essential.

Titanic Lessons for IT Projects

This book presents lessons for IT project managers harvested from the project that designed, built, and launched the R.M.S. Titanic. This book builds on the most notorious "failed project" in recent memory, the sinking of an "unsinkable" ship. This book provides practical advice for organizations applying today's business and technology techniques to common business problems.

Titanic is a very widely written about subject today. The supplemental lists principal sources behind the book notably the "Last Log of Titanic," David Brown’s excellent book on the grounding theory, which has become generally accepted by the Titanic research community. It also lists key sources like Encyclopedia Titanic, probably the best source on the Web, and important museums. As historians/researchers continue to pour over the evidence of the inquiries we inch closer to the ultimate truth.

Churchill's Adaptive Enterprise: Lessons for Business Today

The supplemental provides some background and definition to particular themes in the book like adaptive enterprises, organizational agility, knowledge management, and information portals. It lists important resources related to Churchill, like The Churchill Centre, and his earlier life that prepared him for the most challenging project of his career. It also lists various sites that outline the historical events from May to September 1940 chronologically.

The supplemental provides extensive background to the four principal elements of Churchill's Adaptive Enterprise namely, Storeys Gate or Cabinet War Rooms, Bentley Prior RAF Fighter Command, Bletchley Park Code Breakers, and the Whitehall Supply Chain. This includes "British War Production" research papers from 1952 that cover in detail the economic realities of the UK up to 1940 and beyond.

This page last updated on April 4, 2007.