Future Publications

Project Management Blunders - Titanic Lessons from the Project that Built, Launched and Sunk Titanic (New Edition)

In the centenary year (1912-2012) this third edition continues the evolution of Titanic books in the series, and reviews the case study from entirely a project management perspective. Based on the latest research, brought forward by the Titanic community, it carefully examines all the phases of the project (initiation, planning, design, construction, testing, implementation & operations) using the modern lens of the Project Management Body of Knowledge. In particular, the 10 month period from Olympic's maiden voyage through to her collision with HMS Hawke, and the substantial impact on the project completing Titanic. The Titanic case study covers all aspects of inadequate project management that can lead to project failures (or disasters) to name a few, meddling stakeholders, different agendas, compromises, a rushed job, more compromises, changes late in the project, improper testing, and a poor implementation. This is where the biggest learning lessons are for projects today.

Manhattan

It was all about getting things done, building the atomic bomb. It unlocked the power of the atom in a most inauspicious way.  It took an idea and in a few short years created a terrible weapon imaginable.  Many of the scientists doubted its possible success. Technical and scientific challenges abounded.  As one was solved, many more would arise.  Impossible hurdles had to be overcome with regularity. The near impossible became routine. So, how was this project made possible?  Many new tools were created. So what did make this project a success: the leadership of General Leslie Groves, Ernest Lawrence, and J. Robert Oppenheimer. Groves was appointed to lead the Project.  He was not a scientist, nor was he familiar with atomic theory.  He drove this project to its successful conclusion.  Dr. J. R. Oppenheimer was very different, a scientist and one of the few that understood the complexities that confronted the project.  He understood how difficult this project would be, and he led the scientific areas of designing and developing the bomb. Lastly Ernest Lawrence who saw early on the possibility of an atomic bomb.  He knew that the Germans were also working on an atomic program so with fellow scientists drove the United States into starting this project before the Germans, Russians, or the Japanese could build a similar atomic weapon.  Once started, he drove the project to completion.

Henry V - Lessons for Project Management

This book explores what Henry V, and his “project team”, did to gain a stunning victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. It then compares this with good practice in project management.  This is done through analysis of known historical records, consideration of the “spin” added by the media (in the form of William Shakespeare and his renowned play).  Against all odds Henry took a small army across the English Channel and destroyed a French Army six times its size.  The ferocious arrow storm which brought down a generation of French nobility, followed by the bloody mayhem of battle, left 12,000 French dead for a loss of 40 English soldiers. But what brought Henry and his Army to this point?  It was not good luck or coincidence, but rather effective planning and project management, with due regard to risk management, a clear rationale and authority to proceed, careful consideration of the balance between efficiency and effectiveness, a strong understanding of stakeholders and their needs, detailed analysis of resource requirements, and adequate resourcing.

Project Leadership:  Skills Mastered by Washington, Lincoln and Churchill to Save the World

There has always been a question of whether great leaders are born or made into great leaders by the circumstances of their particular challenges. This book will not only answer that question, it will provide you with the exact steps you need to become a leader on the scale of Washington, Lincoln and Churchill. Great leaders are born just like everyone else. But they must then have the humility and tenacity to make themselves into great leaders. They share a common skillset. Instead of blaming others they have the ability to rescript their subconscious ego thought patterns, and take the harsh circumstances that cause others to buckle and actually use the stress to “Transform Anxiety Into Leadership Greatness”. This book provides the means for us to do the same.

Governance Lessons from Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor is a study in governance, with two large bureaucratic organizations (The US Army and Navy) managing the most complex technology of their day.  These two groups were given conflicting and overlapping mandates in Hawaii, with a shared goal and badly broken lines of communication.  The objective of the new Lessons from History book on this event is to parallel the lessons from the days leading up to the attack to situation in modern corporate and IT governance.  We let the history act as both a mirror and a lens, helping us see our organization in the reflection of the events from 1940-41, and focus on the key lessons of governance that those events contain.