Titanic Lessons for IT Projects:

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3. 1.    This is the story of how a project was so compromised in its design, construction, and delivery it was destined to fail. Executive business pressure to create the ultimate passenger experience and out of control decision making lead to one of the greatest maritime disasters of the 20th century.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

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6. 2.    Recent re-examination of the two inquiries (US and British) show remarkable differences in officer and passenger testimonies. The most troubling facts are the inconsistent descriptions of the impact, see for yourself, http://www.titanicinquiry.org/

1. 3.    All these key questions about the official (officers) account of the story remain unanswered. Following the disaster the officers and key crew members had a week to prepare (conspire) for the US inquiry. So were the officers telling the truth or not?

1. 4.    The sequence of actions indicates the officers were hiding some horrendous decision making that over rode all the basic rules of good seamanship. It is inconceivable that the officers and crew of a passenger ship would take such enormous risks on a maiden voyage.

1. 5.    Why were the officers so overconfident in the ship and its safety? Much has to do with the construction project itself that helped to stoke the myth the ship was virtually unsinkable. Like many projects today too little attention was paid to the non-functional requirements and too much to the functional requirements.

1. 6.    The operational state of the ship was very poor, key equipment was missing, and early warning feedback systems were ineffective. Again the project failed to ensure procedures in the operation were fully tested and working.

1. 7.    The collision was inevitable given the over confidence in the ship, the operation, and the systems. Yet, why had these high levels of expectation manifested through the project?

1. 8.    Even after the collision the horrendous decision making continued. Had the ship remained on the ice shelf then rescue ships would have reached it in time to save all the passengers and crew.

1. 9.    Ismay’s actions were driven by a single minded desire to succeed, risking everything along the way. How can we prevent this from happening today?

1. 10.    Examination of Titanic’s construction project is significant as it highlights how the seeds of the disaster were sown through the project in the actions taken and the expectations set. Again very significant with today’s IT projects.

1. 11.    On-line, On-time, On-budget explores Titanic’s project in detail and compares it step by step to a modern IT project to build an e-business solution. It vividly describes the crucial lessons from this historical project and compliments it with some of today's best practices.

 

 

 

1. 12.    Today in many IT projects problems may surface days, months, or even years after the project is completed and in production because of decisions made early through the project. These decisions typically set the direction for the project. IT projects may be successful on deployment and pass a broad number of "standard" tests (system, performance, and acceptance) yet still fail catastrophically in operation. After all, only 25% of all IT projects are successful--a number that has been continuously verified in various surveys (Source: "Chaos, a recipe for success," Standish Group, 1994, 1996, 1998).