Bibliography Lessons From History Series

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Published Articles

Gantthead article series:

Part 1 to 20
The series was wonderful and fit together like a puzzle. Using the Titanic as an analogy is a great hook as well as teaching tool. (January 22, 2004)

This is totally on the mark!
(January 30, 2004 )

I just read over all and found it excellent. Many of us have often referred to the Titanic in working on projects, we now see how close we were. The lessons learned from this tragedy can be applied to projects today. (September 18, 2004)

My congratulations go to the the author on a riveting series. I was glued to the screen, reading each part to discover ‘what happened at the end’. If [he is] in PM, maybe [he is] in the wrong trade. An excellent read. (May 24, 2005)

"The series of articles was wonderful and fit together like a puzzle. Using the Titanic as an analogy is a great hook as well as teaching tool. "
allaboutbusiness - January 22, 2004

"Mark: I enjoyed your IT Titanic article (on gantthead.com) and have passed it on to my co-workers. Especially noteworthy for me is that a collection of errors (not a single error) sank the Titanic. Us IT folks are guilty of looking for a single point of failure instead of a collection of responsibilities for failure."
Thanks, Pat Harrell, PMP

Feedback on the series

"Just a quick fan letter to say I have enjoyed your Titanic article series on Gantthead, and have just ordered a copy of your book. Look forward to reading it." Robert McKeeman

The Titanic as a case study

IT Project Lessons from Titanic, Part 1

Calculating the Real Costs of Internet Projects

Recently Published for Gantthead Magazine

The following is a series of articles written for www.gantthead.com, a reknowned Project Management circulation. The series will span up 20 articles. The series examines the more common mistakes that occur in IT project that impact an IT solution when put into production. The series uses Titanic’s project as a backdrop.

Most people are very familiar with Titanic’s story and the last 2 days of the voyage and the disaster itself. But little is known about the 4 year construction project, the project stages, and their significance in the disaster. Let us go back to 1909 and re-examine White Star’s project to build 3 super liners (see part 1) . These were major investments on what appeared to be a solid business case but in fact did not cover all the risks adequately (see part 2). Titanic’s architects had many design choices and followed a strategy of incorporating all the latest and advanced safety technologies to provide the highest levels of safety. However, they made compromises to these safety features because of executive business pressure to create the ultimate passenger (first-class) experience (see part 3). We also looked at Titanic’s sister ship Olympic and the role she played. Significantly, White Star deemed Olympic’s track record adequate for launching an almost identical sister ship straight into service without extensive sea trials. However, this track record was far less than perfect with several incidents that haunted the captain and officers (see part 4). Director Bruce Ismay was also determined to beat Olympic’s best crossing time in a publicity stunt to prove Titanic was technologically better (see part 5). As Titanic’s maiden voyage commenced on April 10th the perception existed that Titanic was invincible with the public and media. Titanic’s owners were very much driven by the pressing economic need to move Titanic into service. In reality, Titanic’s testing consisted of the maiden voyage across the Atlantic fully loaded with passengers (see part 6).

Previously Published
Here are some previous articles:

WebSphere Developer's Journal: Nov, 2002, by Emily Bruner, Mark Kozak-Holland.
The Titanic as a case study: WebSphere and the challenge of Internet projects.

Delivering IT projects on time and on budget is not enough in today's world. Until recently, Web and non-Web business systems were mainly detached from each other. The IBM e-business initiative and the WebSphere family of products enhanced the ability of businesses to integrate their Web-based systems with their non-Web systems to produce a single enterprise-wide system. Now that many businesses are online, organizations are restructuring their hierarchies so that the IT organization reports directly to the finance organization. Many CFOs are becoming responsible for approving new projects in organizations - and therefore ultimately responsible for the delivery of business services to customers.

MC Press: September 22, 2003, by Mark Kozak-Holland
What can you learn about project management from someone else's disastrous mistakes?

This article examines the first stage of Titanic's project--the business requirements--and highlights how bad decisions in this early stage can have a detrimental effect later in operation. In essence, this article is a case study for today's IT projects.

MC Press: November 4, 2002, by Mark Kozak-Holland
Careful planning improves your chance of success

IT projects have always carried high levels of risk. The explosion in "Internet" projects, or projects in which an IT solution is integrated to the Internet, has further increased this risk because the Internet channel not only alters customer behavior and expectations for service but also dramatically increases the exposure of the organization.

This page last updated on June 11, 2006.