The following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” – a list of failed or troubled projects from around the world.
Organization: BC Hydro - British Columbia, Canada
Project type : Hydro-electric power generator and associated dam
Project name : Site C dam
Date : Jun 2023
Cost : $16B CAD and climbing
Synopsis :
Today's large scale civil engineering projects aren't just about engineering. They typically involve a significant public relations component as well. On...
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Causes of failure
Scottish Ferries Fiasco
The following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” – a list of failed or troubled projects from around the world.
Organization: CalMac Ferries Ltd
Project type : Construction of two new ferries
Date : Sep 2022
Cost : £340 million
Synopsis :
The services provided by state owned ferry operator CalMac Ferries Ltd sustain communities on 22 of Scotland’s islands. To ensure they continue to meet stakeholder needs CalMac’s fleet renewal program ordered two new boats in 20...
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Super-League Soccer
The following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” – a list of failed or troubled projects from around the world.
Organization: Super League
Project type : Establishment of a new professional sports league
Project name : Super League
Date : Apr 2021
Cost : Unknown
Synopsis :
The public announcement of a new project can be a significant milestone. It’s an opportunity to draw media attention and generate some buzz about an upcoming product. When done well it leaves...
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F-35 Lightning II
The following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” – a list of failed or troubled projects from around the world.
Organization: US Military
Project type : Development of a multi-role fighter aircraft and associated systems
Project name : F-35 Lightning II
Date : Jan 2021
Cost : $1.7T
Synopsis :
When procuring defense systems one of the key strategic decisions needing to be made comes down to 'quantity' versus 'quality'. Should you buy a smaller number of super h...
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Boeing 737-MAX
The following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” – a list of failed or troubled projects from around the world.
Organization : Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Project name : 737-MAX
Project type : Commercial aircraft design
Date : Apr 2019
Cost : 346 lives lost
Synopsis :
Designing and building today's commercial aircraft must be among the most complex projects in the modern age. The two leading players in the industry are America's Boeing Commercial Airplanes a...
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Spotting a leader
Synopsis - Effective 'leaders' know what quality is and feel a sense of responsibility for achieving quality. If a person waffles, waivers or avoids discussing quality, chances are they will not make an effective leader.
It's pretty clear that project success rates are higher where projects have effective leadership and lower where there was either no leader, or where those in the leadership roles didn't discharge their duties effectively. Effective leaders align people, focus people a...
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Agile’s Achilles heel
From its birth in the software development community, the idea of ‘agility’ has risen in prominence to the point where organizations of all shapes and forms are now leveraging agile principles (or at least trying to). Since being conceptually formalized in the 2001 ‘agile manifesto’ the ideas have matured to the point where agile practices have worked their way into the mainstream of the Project Management Institute’s PMBoK® Guide.
As I’ve written about a number of times, agile concepts are ...
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Yes we can!
Synopsis: People can be productive! What most often holds them back is management's failure to take ownership of the concept of "efficiency"...
It is amazing how fast humans can respond to a situation when they need to! A recent story from Japan helps illustrate the point. When a 30M wide sinkhole destroyed a road in Fukuoka, Japan, the problem was resolved and the road fully repaired in just 7 days. As the video below illustrates this was no minor pothole. This was a 15M deep crater that cu...
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RIP Ideas
An organization’s future prosperity is of course directly correlated to its ability to remain relevant in the market place. As we all know, to remain competitive organizations need to both innovate and invest. They need to stay in tune with their customers, be aware of shifting trends or disruptions and maintain a level of situational awareness that supports effective decision-making. Most organizations are aware of those basics and CEO’s make efforts to stay on top of them. The “value” creati...
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Culture’s Cogs – Feedback
Synopsis: Feedback is the mechanism that keeps a culture alive...
This post is part 4 in the Cultures Cog’s series of posts. Click here for – Part 1
In the two prior parts of this blog series we looked at the role "imperatives" and "expectations" play in giving rise to a culture. In this final post we'll look at how feedback is the link that keeps a culture alive.
Feedback is the interaction between people that tells them whether or not expectations are being achieved. Feedback can eit...
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