Learning From the Titanic

8/4/2019 Learning From the Titanic

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Learning from the

Titanic

Hailmar Suranthe de Silva

Post-Mortem


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Overview

Snapshot

Understand what went wrong

Blame-game and performance evaluation

Factors during voyage

Learning from History

How it relates to the IT field


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Snapshot of circumstance...

Business case

Safety and Luxury through new technology Unparalled Customer Experience

6 year construction and 2 year breakeven.

75% of revenue from first class reflects in space allocation:

60% for 905 first-class and 7% for 1134 third-class

Implied non-functional requirements due to perception/assumptions Lavish attention and money substituted processes

Over-confidence Marketing drive: unsinkable ship

Traditional safety (life-boats) given low priority

Old School Project Manager (Captain Smith) didnt trust new methodologies (ice bucket test)

Political Influence Project Sponsor (Bruce Ismay)

High Expectations setarrive a day early


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Snapshot of what happened...

Business and Economic pressures Under-prepared (lack of equipment) and untrained crew 83 of 900 were mariners

Under-quality material substituted

Untested processes/methods

Over-confidence Traditional safety methods (life-boats) given low priority

Safety: only mitigation by technology and no contingency/worst-case (life-boats)

Testing: was maiden voyage Prove Titanic is the best ship even when grounded (Fatal)

Decisions based on aesthetics and luxury compromised individual

safety features 16 vs 48 lifeboats uninterrupted 1st class view

Double skin not continued above water line room for Ballroom Compromised Bulkhead height

Proper Disaster Recovery and Change Management not established Business and Economic pressures still effecting

Undermined event due to over-confidence

No proper recovery process (gut feeling)


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Blame - game...

It was Captain Smiths fault:

The ships speed was too fast for the ice berg conditions and he refused to slow down

It was the Ship Builders fault:

The ships rivets were made of sub-standard iron and the impact caused the

Titanic to come apart

It was Bruce Ismays fault:Managing Director of the White Star Line was obsessed with crossing the Atlantic

in six days so he pressured Captain Smith not to slow down

It was Thomas Andrews fault:

The watertight compartments didnt reach as high as they should have because

the shipping company wanted more room for first class passengers

It was Captain Lords fault:

The Californian was 19 miles from the disaster and when they saw the flares,

even they had warned the Titanic of ice bergs in the area, he ignored the flares

and did not travel to the Titanic to help

Project Manager

Implementer

Sponsor

Architect (Design)

Support


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Project Performance...

Against Goal

Against Schedule

Original goal: Be world-class and premier in technology, safety

and luxury.

Actual: Unequal focus on above three elements created

contradicting decisions.

Schedule goal: Set sail on specified date and arrive a day early

Actual: Launch date achieved, however never completed voyage


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Project Performance...

Against Quality

Against Budget

Quality goal: The quality should be unmatched and provide

unparalleled experience whilst maintaining safety and speed

Actual:Aesthetic quality over-rode quality of safety on several

occasions and created a false sense of confidence (implied non-functional requirements)

Budget goal:Money was not an issue in the venture 2 yearpayback period

Actual:Investment never realised. Rather caused economic and

business pressures directly on project team


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Post-MortemBy Phase


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Phase-wise Post-Mortem...

Conception

Design

Ambitious Goals

Realisation of goals more difficult due to high expectation

Marketing and Sales not inline with rest of the team

Prototyped design

Worst-case scenario tested

Design compromised due to political pressure

Implementation Crashed schedule Inferior Material

Design compromisations not challenged

Testing No testing done Behaviour of such a large ship unknown as no precedent

Pressures - even safety drills were not performed properly

Deployment Pushing to the limit without testing over-confidence/pressure Mistrust of new technology

Disater Recovery Support protocols not established

Disaster protocols not planned for due to over-confidence Project Manager not in control of event


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Key Lessons


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Lessons-Learnt...

What went right?

What went wrong?

Ambitious Goal and Business Case

Excellent (original) Design Concept

Prototyping

Was in a position to deliver the customer experience planned for

The Project Manager allowed the Sponsor to dictate terms no pushback

The Sponsor often took-over control and interfered with actual delivery

The Project Manager did not have trust in his tools and people No final testing

Impact analysis not done on design modifications

No disaster recovery protocols or processes

Project benefits were not managed throughout each

phase of the project (safety compromised)


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How it fits with modern IT projects...

Compromises to safety features

Elevation of expectations

Allowed business pressures to override operational procedures

Disaster Recovery ignored due to over-confidence

Project Governance and Manage People and Teams:Project Roles need to be

clearly set-out and defined

Manage Project Communications: The Project Manager has a responsibility to say NO

Managing Scope: Set the right expectations

Managing Quality: Quality checkpoints and testing (final and integrated) are a must

Manage Benefits: Have an integrated benefit management plan and track it to

completion

Manage Risks: No matter how great the outlook seems plan for the worst. Have aDisaster Recovery program that is detailed and have escalated action phases

Avoiding ourproject

becoming the

next Titanic

Roots of

Titanicsdisaster in

project


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Questions

& Comments


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References

Titanic Lessons for IT Projects - IT Projects from Hell , Authored by Mark Kozak-

Holland, HP Services (July 13th, 2007)

Presentation for the Center for the Management of Information Technology (CMIT)Lessons-from-History

Link:

http://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Project

sv7.pdf
http://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Projectsv7.pdfhttp://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Projectsv7.pdfhttp://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Projectsv7.pdfhttp://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Projectsv7.pdf

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Learning From the Titanic