The following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
US Navy
Project name : Marine One
Date : Jun 2009 Cost :$13B
Synopsis :
To allow for rapid and safe transport of the President and other VIP's, the US Government maintains a fleet of VIP transport helicopters. The current fleet of Sea King and Blackhawk helicopters was first deployed in the 1970's. Following the 9/11 attacks, the US Government decided tha...
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Author: admin
Air Canada
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Air Canada
Date : Aug 2009 Cost :$67M
Synopsis :
Following more than 3 years of development effort, Air Canada suspends its efforts to implement a next-generation air reservation and departure control system. Citing capital cost issues the airline announces a $67M write down related to the development. Originally planned to start deployment in 2007, the implem...
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Foundation for Student life (Oslo) – Laundry system
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
The foundation for student life (Oslo) – Norway
Date : May 2009 Cost :$14M + some dirty laundry
Synopsis :
As part of a move to SAP the Oslo based Foundation for Student Life elected to tie the laundry facilities in the student village into their accounting systems. Integrating the laundry machines into the accounting systems meant that students had to pay fo...
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City of Vancouver – Olympic Village
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
City of Vancouver – Canada
Date : Jan 2009 Cost :$250M cost overrun
Synopsis :
While we don't often touch on construction projects in this database, a construction project is still a form of technology project. The following example nicely illustrates what happens when financial risks are ignored.
Having won the right to host the 2010 Winter Olympics in 20...
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Veterans Affiars – USA
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Veterans Affairs - USA
Project : Replacement Scheduling Application (RSA)
Date : Aug 2009 Cost :$41M
Synopsis :
After seven years of development the Veterans Affairs (VA) Replacement Scheduling Application (RSA) is scrapped. As a component of the larger HealtheVet system, the Replacement Scheduling Application was to allow veterans to request and view medical...
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Project Management Heresy
I’ve just finished reading a book about the Apollo missions that put man on the moon (Apollo by Charles Murray and Catherine Cox). The Apollo project was initiated by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 when he announced to the US Congress his believe that the United States “should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him back safely to the earth". In July 1969 that goal was achieved when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed...
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Befuddle, Bewilder and Baffle
In the Project Management world, it’s a refrain that is repeated in almost every training program offered around the world; communicate, communicate, communicate. Despite the fact that students of Project Management are told that as much as 80% of a Project Manager’s time is spent communicating, in most Project Management training courses, as little as 5% of the time is dedicated to the topic of communications. Even then, most courses simply expose students to some basics ideas (such as the send...
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Say it with Samples
Lesson learned: Use real life samples to make training more effective.
Category: Training / skills development.
The following post is a “Lesson Learned” that comes from the analysis of the failed projects documented in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” or from the experiences the editorial team have had working with clients around the world. The post is published here to spark discussion and help individuals and organizations think about what it takes to improve project success rates.
In...
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Social Learning
Being something of a Systems Thinker, I often find myself reflecting on events to see if I can understand the cause and effect relationships that drive the outcomes we attain. Working in the field of education, that interest has caused me to look deeply into the way individuals learn and how different modes of teaching achieve different outcomes.
When we think about training we typically think in terms of training classes, academic courses and the ubiquitous two day workshop. Despite the prom...
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Strucutural and Strategic Planning
In theory projects are initiated by the creation and formal approval of a Project Charter. The Charter details the projects objectives, outlines the scope of the project and establishes the authority for the Project Manager to proceed. In practice few of the organizations I visit use a formal Project Charter and instead a hotchpotch of different methods is used.
Theses informal methods of initiating a project often turn into a long drawn out activity. From the sea of ideas, options and p...
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