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Titanica
Encyclopedia probably the best
Titanic source on the Web
Ulster Museum
Spiritual home of Titanic
Titanic
Nautical site
Titanic
Testimonies
from the two inquiries
Last Log of Titanic
David
Brown’s excellent book
on the grounding
Articles
By author
notably multi-part
series on Gantthead
Audios
By the
author including transcripts
Characters
In the
plot of the story
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Background to Supplemental
The following information is provided to further enhance concepts listed in
the book.
Modern Project Failures
On September 14th the Homeland
Security Department halted all activities on the $229 million Emerge2
project to build one enterprise resource management system across the
department which had morphed into a series of financial-system migration
projects. Across all sectors and industries
IT
Projects are plagued by failure. According to Standish Group a
staggering 66% of IT projects prove unsuccessful in some measure, whether
they fail completely, exceed their allotted budget, aren't completed
according to schedule or are rolled out with fewer features and functions
than promised.
This seems contrary to the conventional
wisdom that as the Project Management profession matures project failure
rates are likely to drop. Since 2000 the Project Management Institute has
blossomed and is one of the fastest growing professional bodies, at 20%.
Over the years it has absorbed from many disciplines and approaches, e.g.,
Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, and Capability Maturity Model.
Comparing Titanic's Project Failure
Large
projects failure tend to make the headlines, for example, Emerge2
($229m), FBI's Virtual Case File ($104m), and J Sainsbury's ($526m)
automated supply-chain management system. Yet there are many smaller project
failures that never get reported. So why is the track record so poor? Why is
the situation not improving? There are no simple answers but looking at the
most infamous project failure of all time, the construction of the RMS
Titanic, can provide a better insight into why projects fail and will
continue to do so. To date most of Titanic’s research has been centered on
the 4 day maiden voyage across the Atlantic and the disaster, and not on the
project itself which started in 1909.
Stepping through Titanic's Project Stages
A stepped walkthrough of each project
stage provides insight into the failure in the project implementation phase.
For example, in the design stage the architects transferred the business
into the
functional and non-functional requirements. To help understand the
project risks White Star invested in a ship-builder’s model (see photo
below) the modern equivalent of an IT pilot. They used it for flow analysis
or “static testing” to review ship characteristics and to analyze all
exposures to the possibility of loss.
Functional Versus Non-functional
Requirements
The architects ran into conflicts
with executive pressure from White Star's director Bruce Ismay who pushed
for the ultimate passenger experience. For example, he insisted on the need
for a spacious 200-foot ballroom that cut straight across bulkheads in the
centre of the ship. Similarly, a desire to give a clear ocean vista to the
first-class suites on the promenade/lifeboat deck was at odds with
triple-stacked lifeboats, towering 15 feet in the air.
The testing stage was further compromised by Titanic's sister ship
Olympic when she was returned to the shipbuilders for major repairs. A
collision with the cruiser HMS Hawke pierced Olympic’s outer
skin and caused considerable damage that required 4 weeks of repair as
plating was replaced at one sixth of the original total cost. Work stopped
on Titanic. The business pressures for Titanic to sail were
enormous considering the large investments in the four-year construction.
The maiden voyage was a major social event and could not be delayed by a
month. Something else had to give.
The compromises continued through each of the
project stages so the collision was probably inevitable with the compromised
safety features, the failure of feedback systems, and the belief that
Titanic was invincible. This provides many valuable lessons for today’s
business world and IT projects today.
Sites Associated with Titanic Lessons for IT Projects
These sites relate to research around Titanic (1909-1912) and include the in depth
encyclopedia Titanica site, probably the most reknowned source of information. Check out David Brown's
white paper on "The last log of the Titanic"
an authorative source that first put forward the
“Ice-shelf grounding” theory. The Ulster Museum
provided the photograhic images for the book as
displayed above and below. The “Ship builder’s model” (photo
above) is akin to a modern project pilot and was used in the static testing
of the ship.
Titanic
(1909-1912) leaving Belfast
(photo above) where limited sea trials were held. This was comparable to the
solution testing stage in a modern project prior to implementation into a
production environment. By this point many compromises had already been made
to Titanic.
Credits and Sources
The following
provided information for the book.
On-Line, On-Time,
On-Budget
1998 MERIT Project.
Best Practices in Enterprise
Management.
Bonsall, Thomas E. Great Shipwrecks of the 20th
Century. New York:
Gallery Books.
Bristow, Diana. Titanic: Sinking the Myths.
Brown, David. The Last Log of the Titanic. McGraw-Hill.
Davie, Michael. The Titanic: The Full Story of a Tragedy. The Bodleyhead Ltd.
Hyslop, Donald, Alastair
Forsyth, and Sheila Jemima. Titanic Voices. New York:
St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Lord, Walter. A Night to Remember. New
York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1955.
Lord, Walter. The Night Lives On. New
York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1985.
Spignesi, Stephen. The Complete Titanic. Birch Lane
Press Group, 1998.
Thompson, Harvey.
Customer Value Management. McGraw-Hill, 2000.
Wade, Wyn Craig. The Titanic: End of a Dream. New York: Rawson,
Wade, 1979.
Wels, Susan. Titanic: Legacy of the World’s
Greatest Ocean Liner. Alexandria,
VA: Time-Life Books, 2000.
Illustrations were used courtesy of the Ulster Folk &
Transport Museum
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